Will Raja Singh, Danam Nagender Get Party Tickets?

Y Satyanarayana

Controversial BJP MLA from Goshamahal constituency in the dissolved house, Raja Singh announced that he had quit the party to take up cow protection as his mission. The BJP on its part did not announce acceptance of its resignation. Local party bigwigs like Bandaru Dattatraya, Dr Laxman, Kishan Reddy and others remained largely silent on this issue. The firebrand Goshamahal politician is known for his provocative comments and has several cases pending against him.

While most people tend to cringe at some of his vitriolic statements, there are others who tend to think that he is the only BJP politician in the city who can stand up to the MIM in the Old City. The big question doing the rounds in political circles is—will Raja Singh be fielded again by the BJP from Goshamahal in the upcoming Assembly elections?

Some observers say that Raja Singh is too hot even for the BJP to handle. Others are of the opinion that the party has no choice but to field him given the demographics of the constituency which has a sizable population of North Indian voters. Goshamahal is considered to be the BJP's stronghold and it would be difficult for the MIM to knock the party's candidate off its perch.

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Controversial as he may be, Raja Singh may prove to be a surefire winner for the BJP if the TRS decides to field a relatively weak candidate. The other big question is—will Danam Nagender make the cut this time around? The former Khairatabad MLA ditched the Congress party in which he rose through the ranks to become a legislator twice over and also held portfolios like health in the state Cabinet. He crossed over to the ruling TRS only very recently and was a strong contender for the Khairatabad ticket from the ruling TRS. While the final announcement is still to come, speculation is rife that Nagender's candidature may be glossed over to accomodate a relatively light weight candidate. The party's strategy to strike a balance between its proximity to BJP and MIM in the twin cities seems to be underpinning this move according to analysts. In such a scenario, BJP's sitting legislator Chintala Ramachandra Reddy stands a better chance of pulling it off. It is widely believed that though Reddy was a people-friendly candidate with a lot of good work to his credit, as many residents put it, there is a powerful anti-incumbency wave against the BJP in this constituency. Moreover, the fact that there is a strong anti-Modi sentiment in large parts of the country does not help his cause in any way. Reddy may therefore end up on the losing side inspite of all that he has done for his constituents.

Meanwhile the buzz is that Danam Nagender will be fielded by the ruling party from the Goshamahal constituency. In such an eventuality, he will take on BJP's Raja Singh on whose candidature a question mark still hangs and Mukesh Goud of the Congress. In the event of three heavyweights fighting it off, it is quite likely that the MIM candidate make it by the skin of his teeth. The other TRS aspirant from Khairatabad P Vijaya Reddy, Congress leader P Janardhan Reddy's daughter stands a better chance of being fielded by the ruling party. While the Congress has not yet finalised its candidate, sources say that the High Command and Uttam Kumar Reddy seem to have agreed upon putting up a youthful face this time around and among the probables the name of Aamer Javeed is doing the rounds. It is being said that Javeed's proximity to Rahul Gandhi could well win him the party ticket.

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In the final analysis, it remains to be seen as to who will get tickets for these key constituencies. The contest is likely to be a big ferris wheel ride.