It appears the by-election to Dubbak assembly seat in Telangana is not going to be cake walk for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi as predicted by many people.
Both the opposition parties – the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are fielding tough candidates to fight the TRS candidate for the by-election scheduled to be held on November 3. The results wou be declared on November 13.
On Monday night, the TRS leadership announced the candidature of Solipeta Sujatha, widow of former MLA Solipeta Ramachandra Reddy, whose sudden death necessitated the present by-elections.
Though TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao considered various other candidates for the party ticket for Dubbak, he finally chose Sujatha despite knowing that she is not a tough candidate.
“KCR has given her a promise that she would be the candidate for Dubbak. And he wants to fulfil his promise. He is confident of her victory, as the responsibility to secure the win has been entrusted to his nephew T Harish Rao, who hails from Siddipet district which covers Dubbak,” a TRS leader said.
On the other hand, the BJP has announced the candidature of P Raghunandan Rao, who is a native from Dubbak and had been with the TRS for a long time before jumping into the BJP a few years ago.
Since he was the president of TRS Medak district unit for a long time, he has very good relations with the people of Dubbak.
Moreover, like Harish Rao, Raghunandan also has been extensively touring Dubbak for a long time establishing his contacts with the voters.
Similarly, the Congress has roped in Cheruku Srinivas Reddy, son of former minister Cheruku Mutyam Reddy, who had earlier represented Dubbak assembly constituency in the past.
Late Mutyam Reddy had a very good name in the people and his family still has a lot of hold on Dubbak.
Though the TRS has considered Srinivas Reddy’s name for the Dubbak seat till recently, it finally picked up Solipeta Sujana because of sympathy factor.
A disappointed Srinivas Reddy quit the TRS and joined the Congress on Tuesday. He has been given the Congress ticket for the by-polls.
With three strong leaders in the fray, the by-election to Dubbak has now turned interesting. For the TRS, it is really a tough task to retain the seat!