TRS gets cracking on crucial Nagarjunasagar bypoll

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) seems to be gearing up for the Nagarjunasagar bypoll with the State government sanctioning nearly Rs 600 crore worth construction works related to four lift irrigation schemes which are located in Nalgonda district. It has also issued the necessary government orders (GOs) for this.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced on Sunday that a government degree college will also be constructed in Halia, which falls under the Nagarjunasagar Assembly constituency. He issued directions to the government officials concerned to take up measures in order to start the college soon.

The GOs issued on Saturday by the Irrigation and CAD departments of the State government pertain to the Bothalapalem-Wadapally (Rs 229.25 crore) and the Keshavapuram-Kondrapole (Rs 75.93 crore) lift irrigation schemes in Damarcherla mandal, the Dunnapothulagandi-Balnepalli-Champla lift irrigation scheme (Rs 219.9 crore) in Adavidevulapally mandal and the Nellikal lift irrigation scheme (Rs 72.16 crore) on the foreshore of the Nagarjunasagar dam in Tirumalagirisagar mandal. 

The Nagarjunasagar Assembly constituency in Nalgonda district is due for a bypoll, following the death of incumbent Nomula Narsimhaiah. The bypoll gains significance in view of the recent defeat that TRS faced in the Dubbaka bypoll at the hands of the BJP and also the impressive gains made by the saffron party in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election.

Competition between the two parties is already heating up. There have also been reports of the BJP looking to poach former Congress Legislature Party leader K Jana Reddy, who was the runner-up in the 2018 election, and field him from Nagarjunasagar. Interestingly, the TRS, which does not have a candidate now, is also looking at Jana Reddy as he is the popular pick.

At the moment, the Jana Reddy camp is silent: his son Raghuveer Reddy said they would stick with the Congress. If Jana Reddy stays with the grand old party or joins the BJP, the TRS would be left with only one option, nominating Narsimhaiah’s son Bhagat Kumar, a practising advocate, for the seat.

CM announces Rs 600 cr for irrigation works 
Ahead of the Nagarjunasagar bypoll, KCR promises to set up a government degree college in the constituency and announces Rs 600 crore worth irrigation works for Nalgonda district