BJP, Congress leaders, who lost Assembly polls, are eyeing on Medak MP seat to taste electoral success

The Constituency, spread in the erstwhile Medak district, had seven assembly segments-Dubbak, Gajwel, Patancheru, Sangaredy, Siddipet, Medak, and Narsapur-under it

Medak: The Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who lost the assembly elections from different constituencies forming part of Medak pareliamentary constituency, are aspiring to contest from the Medak constituency to taste electoral success in the 2024 general elections which are just five months away.

They see the Lok Sabha election as an opportunity to get a leap in their political career after the bitter experience in the assembly elections. Bharat Rastra Samithi (BRS) had won the seat in the last five elections, beginning 2004. The Constituency, spread in the erstwhile Medak district, had seven assembly segments-Dubbak, Gajwel, Patancheru, Sangaredy, Siddipet, Medak, and Narsapur-under it.

The BRS had won six of them in the 2023 assembly elections except for the Medak assembly segment which the it lost with a margin of 10,000 votes. Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, who contested and won the 2014 by-election and 2019 general election, had resigned as Medak MP this December after his victory in the Dubbak assembly segment over BJP candidate M Raghunandan Rao with over 53,000 votes majority.

However, senior BJP leaders Etala Rajendar, M Raghunandan Rao, Naindishwar Goud and others were aspiring for the Medak Lok Sabha ticket while Congres senior leader T Jagga Reddy, Tumukunta Narsa Reddy and others were aspiring for the Congress ticket.

Etala Rajendar, who contested from Huzurabad and Gajwel assembly constituencies, had lost both elections. However, he has openly announced that he is willing to contest in Parliament elections if the party asked him so. Etala was touring across the Medak Lok Sabha constituency after his defeat in the Gajwel.

Meanwhile, Raghunandan, who came third in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by contesting on BJP ticket, was also aspiring to contest from Medak as he lost the assembly election from Dubbak. Making the competition intense, he has been conducting meetings with cadres in the Dubbak assembly segment.

Congress leader Jagga Reddy, who lost the election from the Sangareddy assembly constituency, is a frontrunner for contesting from Medak Lok Sabha seat in 2024. While Jagga Reddy was holding no post now, the Congress Party too had no candidate better than Jagga Reddy’s caliber, to contest for the seat.

Reddy, who joined the BJP after his loss in the 2014 assembly elections, had contested from Medak Lok Sabha seat in 2014-by election for a losing cause. Narsa Reddy, who contested on Congress ticket against former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in Gajwel, was also aspiring for the ticket this time around. Former Medak BRS MLA M Padma Devendar Reddy, who is the only BRS MLA to lose the election under the Medak Lok Sabha constituency, may also consider jumping into the election fray if the BRS Party President directs so.