Cakewalk likely for BRS as Congress, BJP suffer leadership void in Miryalaguda

District: Nalgonda

MLA: Nallamothu Bhaskar Rao

Reservation: GEN

Total Voters: 2,18,696

Booths: 263

Urban Voters: 37%

Rural Voters: 63%

Male: 50.13%

Female: 49.87%

Caste & Religious Demography

Gen + BC: 66.40%

SC: 15.30%

ST: 18.40%

Hindu: 92.00%

Muslim: 07.00%

Others : 1.00%

Candidates Profile

Nallamothu Bhaskar Rao (BRS)

Personal information: He belongs to Shakapuram village in Nidamanoor mandal of Nagarjuna Sagar in erstwhile Nalgonda district.

Political Background: He was an active participant in the first-ever Telangana movement in 1969 where he was a general secretary of a students union. He also worked as a member of the Osmania University Students Union. He served as the former chairman of the agricultural market committee in Nidamanoor . He was a close associate of Kunduru Jana Reddy for 35 years and played a key role in Reddy’s electoral victories from 1983. In 2014, he started his political journey with the Congress. He was elected as the MLA of Miryalaguda constituency from the Congress in the newly formed State of Telangana. In 2016, he defected to the TRS (now BRS). He was re-elected in the 2018 elections with a record majority of 83,931 votes.

Financial strength: His son Nallamothu Chaitanya holds the office of vice-president of Engineering at Automotive Robotics Inc. His other son, Nallamothu Siddhartha, holds the office of a vice-president of a multinational financial institution in Pune.

Bathula Laxma Reddy (Congress)

Popularly known as BLR, he embarked on his career in the transport industry and joined the Congress in 2004. With his charity programmes, BLR has emerged as a strong leader. He has good financial backing. However he doesn’t enjoy the support of the second-rung cadre. It was believed that the constituency would be given to the CPM as part of alliance and a late call was made to nominate BLR as the contestant.

Sadineni Srinivas (BJP)

Sadineni Srinivas was the TDP incharge for the constituency and later shifted to the BJP. While he has been campaigning on the ground, he doesn’t have the backing of a strong cadre.

Constituency information

Background: This constituency was formed in 1957 and was previously part of Peddamunagala. The Congress had won the seat in seven elections since then with the CPM bagging the seat on five occasions.

Geography: Miryalaguda, Vemulapally, Madgulapally, Dameracherla and Adavi Devulapally are the mandals in the constituency. It has a lot of rice mills and cement factories and marble industries. Nagrjuna Sagar left canal is main water source for this constituency.

2014 election analysis

N Bhaskar Rao won the seat with the help of Jana Reddy. As many tall Congress leaders including Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkatreddy and Gutha Sukhendar Reddy belong to erstwhile Nalgonda district, people voted for Bhaskar Rao.

2018 election analysis

In 2018, Bhaskar Rao contested from the BRS, R Krishnaiah from the Congress and Karnati Prabhakar on a BJP ticket. Settlers from Andhra Pradesh, Muslims and Reddies voted for the BRS. Because of R Krishnaiah, SCs, STs and BCs voted for the Congress. CPM candidate Julakanti Ranga Reddy grabbed the anti-government vote bank. Sanction of SC, ST and minority residential schools along Kasturba Gandhi School and a junior college for Miryalaguda was a plus for the BRS. Conversion of the Miryalacheruvu into a mini Tank Bund and expansion of internal roads also helped the ruling party’s cause.

Current Situation

Nallamothu Bhaskar Rao hasn’t resolved drinking water issues in a few colonies in Miryalaguda town. After Bhaskar Rao joined the BRS, there was no tall leader who took over the reigns of the Cogress. The BJP too is facing a leadership crisis except in Miryalaguda town where it has a decent base..

Key Local Issues

• Yadadri thermal power plant in Dameracherla mandal is being delayed.
• Pollution from cement and rice mills is another issue.