MLC seat: Palla Rajeshwar Reddy enjoys clear edge over others

Political observers believe that the ruling TRS candidate and incumbent MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy enjoys a clear edge over the others in the contest

Warangal: The political atmosphere has heated up following the notification for election to Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Graduate MLC constituency on February 16. Though a dozen candidates, including several independents, are set to test their luck in the fight for the MLC seat, political observers believe that the ruling TRS candidate and incumbent MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy enjoys a clear edge over the others in the contest.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Errabelli Dayakar Rao, who has been playing a key role in campaign strategy, said that Palla Rajeshwar, who is also Rythu Bandhu Samithi State president, will win the seat again. “Being an academician, Rajeshwar Reddy will get the support of graduate voters. Besides, the welfare schemes and developmental works taken up by the TRS government under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao will play a decisive role in the election. Moreover, we have provided 1.31 lakh jobs in the public sector since the TRS came to power immediately after the formation of the State. All these factors will help him clinch the seat,” he added.

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Dr Sangani Malleshwar, Head, Department of Journalism, Kakatiya University (KU), Warangal, observed that Rajeshwar Reddy will get re-elected as the anti-incumbency votes would get divided among the Opposition party candidates. “Both the national parties — Congress and BJP, and Left parties are contesting the election. Moreover, Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) founder and TJAC leader Prof M Kodandaram, journalists Rani Rudrama Devi and Chinthapandu Naveen alias Teenmar Mallana have already launched their campaign. However, everyone is trying to garner the support of voters by trying to project the alleged failures of the TRS government and promising that they would protect their interests. This will lead to the division of votes and help Rajeshwar Reddy win the election,” he said.

A former professor and journalist Vooradi Srinivas observed that barring Rajeshwar Reddy, the other candidates were lagging in the campaign. “Since Rajeshwar Reddy is way ahead of others in the campaign in the three districts under the MLC constituency and majority of the Assembly constituencies are with TRS, it should be easy going for him. I wonder why others are not focusing much on their poll campaign,” he added. A former faculty member of KU, Dr Suresh Devath said predicting the result at this moment was a bit too early. “Moreover, the MLC election is not like other elections and the priority votes play a key role,” he said.

Dr Bollikonda Veerender, a faculty member with Department of Economics, KU, said the State government’s recent announcement on filling vacant posts and implementing the Pay Revision Commission recommendation for government employees will play on the minds of voters in favour of the TRS candidate. Godhala Ravinder Reddy, a private employee, said the issuing orders providing 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the State would also benefit the TRS candidate.

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