Political parties gear up for Nagarjunasagar bypoll
Hyderabad: Political parties are warming up for the bypoll for Nagarjunasagar Assembly constituency which fell vacant following the sudden demise of sitting TRS MLA Nomula Narsimhaiah on December 1. Several names from the main political parties are doing the rounds even as Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy, Rajya Sabha member Badugula Lingaiah Yadav and other TRS leaders have initiated moves to gear up the party cadre for the by-election.
In the wake of speculations that Nagarjunasagar Assembly by-election will be held along with the bypoll to Tirupati Parliamentary constituency, all the political parties have commenced their preparations. Several aspirants have already begun lobbying for tickets from their respective party headquarters. While there is no clarity on the probable candidates from the ruling TRS, the Yadav community had recently requested Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to field a family member of Narsimhaiah for the seat. At least two aspirants from BJP are said to be lobbying for the party ticket. The Congress is likely to bet on its old war-horse and seven time MLA K Jana Reddy for the bypoll. He too is said to have been meeting the party leaders extensively within the constituency.
Notwithstanding the pending decision over candidature, the TRS has begun its groundwork and started making its moves to ensure that it retains seat. Jagadish Reddy and Lingaiah Yadav have already started touring the constituency extensively, reviewing developmental works and also reinvigorating the party cadre. The State government too has been responding promptly and has already released funds towards pending works pertaining to Nellikallu Lift Irrigation Scheme, Kunkuduchettu Thanda Lift Irrigation Scheme, special pipelines to Low Level Canal to D7 and D8 distributors.
Green signal has been given for establishment of a government degree college at Halia, while proposals have been already sent for clearance to take up allocation of Nagarjuna Sagar Project quarters to locals in Nagarjunasagar Hill Colony and Pylon Colony at a prescribed fee.
While Jana Reddy had not been able to do much on the long-pending issues of the constituency, Narsimhaiah made his mark during his short stint by addressing several issues. TRS leaders are confident that the voters will support the development politics of the TRS government as there is a perceptible change in the constituency.
Among the many developmental initiatives, the TRS government has created Nandikonda municipality for development of Nagarjunasagar town and upgraded Halia from major gram panchayat to municipality. A new mandal of Tirumalagiri was also created, and a civil judge court was sanctioned for Nidamanur. A mini stadium is being constructed at Halia, and Rs 4 crore has been sanctioned for modernisation of Jalu canal constructed during the Kakatiya period.
In the 2018 Assembly elections, there were about 2.08 lakh voters in the constituency. The 2018 Assembly elections recorded a voter turnout of 85.98 per cent, with Narsimhaiah emerging victorious by a margin of 7,771 votes. While Narasimhaiah polled 83,655 votes, Jana Reddy was in second position with 75,884 votes. Due to the similarity with the car symbol of TRS, a truck symbol allotted to an independent candidate received 9,819 votes, the third highest and could have played spoilsport. BJP candidate K Niveditha Reddy was relegated to fourth place with only 2,675 votes.
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