Huzurnagar bypoll: The acid test for TRS, Congress & BJP

HYDERABAD: Huzurnagar is presently a hot topic in Telangana and going to be a litmus test for the major parties. With the Election Commission likely to issue a notification for the bye-elections from Huzurnagar next month, a lot is at stake for the key players to win the assembly seat.
The bypoll was necessitated after TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy gave up the seat after winning the Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat.
The bye-election is crucial for the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, BJP and Congress, as it would be the first direct election after the Lok Sabha elections held in April this year. While a win for TRS will be seen as an endorsement of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s governance, BJP is raring to go and believes it can cause an upset. Congress, on the other hand, is confident of retaining the seat on the premise that people are vexed with KCR’s rule.
For Telangana Rashtra Samithi, winning Huzurnagar is of paramount importance as it will be seen as killing two birds (Congress and BJP) with one stone.
“Not only will it be an endorsement of eight-month rule of the TRS government, but also seen as rejection of BJP and Congress,” an analyst said. Though the TRS leadership dismisses BJP as a party posing threat to it, the top brass of the pink party, of late, is watching every move of the saffron party.
“The Telangana Rashtra Samithi leadership is looking for a strong candidate and planning to depute top leaders during the campaign,” a senior leader said.
BJP’s optimism stems from the fact that it had emerged victorious in four Lok Sabha seats, while TRS bagged only nine seats.
Source said the saffron party is leaving no stone unturned to upstage both Congress and TRS in Huzurnagar and has already started scouting for a strong candidate.
“We won four Lok Sabha seats and want to prove that the wins were no fluke. There is a strong feeling among people who are looking for a change,” a senior BJP leader told TOI.
That BJP is keen to have Huzurnagar in its kitty was made doubly clear when it started wooing leaders from TRS, Congress and TDP and had succeeded in getting some top leaders. BJP has only one legislator in the assembly now.
Meanwhile, Congress, which suffered reverses with its MLAs switching loyalties to Telangana Rashtra Samithi, is not willing to give up the seat at any cost.
Uttam, it is learnt, has told the party leadership that he would spare no efforts to ensure victory of the party candidate.
“The grand old party also wants to show that its votebank is intact by retaining the seat,” an analyst told TOI explaining the state of the Congress in Telangana after its poor performance in polls.