Jana Reddy’s Entry Turns The Nagarjuna Sagar Contest Curious

Ending weeks of speculations, the congress veteran is finally entering the Nagarjuna Sagar electoral fray as the party candidate. This is perhaps a response to TRS likely to field legislative council chairman Gutta Sukhendar Reddy as the party nominee in a frantic bid to retain the seat. The BJP enthused by the Dubbak and GHMC results tried in vain to woo Jana Reddy. Now, with Jana Reddy deciding to contest as a Congress candidate only, the saffron party is expected to field a leader from the Yadav community which has a numerically significant presence in the constituency. The BJP’s social engineering model is a desperate bid to carve out a space for itself in an otherwise polarised battle between the strongmen of Congress and TRS.

In a clever attempt to prevent any dissension within the party, Jana Reddy successfully impressed upon the congress high command to defer the selection of PCC chief. Thus the wounded congress is expected to rally behind the party veteran in a desperate move to regain the lost glory. Jana Reddy’s entry will certainly render TRS sleepless nights and make it extremely difficult for the BJP to further its narrative that the saffron party has replaced the grand old party to emerge as a major challenger to the pink party.

Nagarjuna Sagar is a sitting TRS seat. Jana Reddy who lost by a smaller margin in 2018 has formidable personal clout much more than that of the party. Unlike in the GHMC and Dubbak, the BJP has negligible organisational presence and a prominent leader to bank upon. Thus, the contest turns prestigious for the three players. The TRS has to defend its seat, especially after losing Dubbak. Congress has to win this seat to remain relevant in 2023. The BJP has to prove its mettle to sustain the gains it received in the recent past.

Normally, by-polls hardly matter, that too when caused by the death of sitting MLAs. But, political parties are turning these by-polls into a sort of referendum for the general elections in a bid to spin a narrative in favour of them. State wide political issues replace local factors. The presence of top leaders in the campaign makes them more contesting. The vitriolic campaign focusing on personalities or emotive issues rather than genuine people’s issues are making by-polls belligerent.

Thus, Nagarjuna Sagar is turning into yet another battleground that would certainly witness life and death battle for the political parties.

By Prof K Nageshwar

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