Tough task ahead for Congress in Husnabad assembly constituency

It is going to be a tough task for the Congress to choose a candidate for the Husnabad assembly constituency with two senior leaders competing with each other for party ticket

Karimnagar: It is going to be a tough task for the Congress to choose a candidate for the Husnabad assembly constituency with two senior leaders competing with each other for the party ticket.

Both former MP Ponnam Prabhakar and former MLA Aligireddy Praveen Reddy have made their intentions public. While Praveen Reddy hails from Mulkanoor, Bheemadevarapalli mandal of the same constituency, Prabhakar had decided to shift to Husnabad from the Karimnagar constituency.

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The former MP’s close aides say that it was according to an agreement reached between Prabhakar and Praveen Reddy that the former decided to shift to Husnabad. In return, Praveen Reddy was to contest from the Karimnagar parliament constituency in the next Lok Sabha elections.

However, Praveen Reddy appears to be not so happy with the proposal since he had started his Assembly campaign a few months ago and already covered more than 70 villages as against 160 villages in the constituency. Every day, he is visiting two villages, party sources said.

Moreover, Praveen Reddy does not have much of a hold in the Karimnagar parliament segment since he has always been confined to Husnabad constituency. Being the president of the Mulkanoor Cooperative Rural Bank and Marketing Society, he believes he has a good say in the constituency. He also served the people of the segment after being elected as MLA in the 2009 elections.

On the other hand, Prabhakar, who was elected as MP from Karimnagar in 2009, lost the election to TRS (now BRS) candidate B Vinod Kumar in 2014. In the 2018 assembly elections, he contested from the Karimnagar Assembly segment but could manage only the third position. He again contested from Karimnagar to the parliament in 2019, and came third.

After the series of defeats, Prabhakar is said to have looked at a safe place and opted for Husnabad where BCs including the Goud community to which he belongs are in large numbers. About 70 percent voters (1.10 lakh to 1.20 lakh) in the segment are from BC communities.

Unhappy with the former MP’s decision, Praveen Reddy is said to be toying with the option of quitting the party and even joining the BJP if the Husnabad ticket is given to Prabhakar, sources said.

On the other hand, BRS candidate and sitting MLA Vodithela Sathish Kumar is sure that he will win, since the people are in favour of the ruling government following the implementation of various development programmes and welfare schemes.