Khairatabad: Danam Nagender aims to latch on to high profile constituency

Assembly Constituency: Khairathabad

Parliament: Secunderabad

District: Hyderabad

MLA: Danam Nagender (Munnuru Kapu)

MP: G. Kishan Reddy (BJP)

Reservation: Gen

Total Voters: 2,82,080

Booths: 245

Urban Voters: 100%

Rural Voters: 0%

Male: 53.62%

Female: 46.38%

Caste & Religious Demography

• Gen + OBC: 93.10%
• SC: 6.50%
• ST: 0.40%
• Hindu: 70%
• Muslim: 21.80%
• Others : 3.00%

Danam Nagender (BRS)

Danam Nagender was elected from Asif Nagar constituency in 1994, 1999 and 2004 as MLA. In the 2004 Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections, he left the INC for the TDP. After winning from Asifnagar on the TDP ticket, he resigned from his seat and left the TDP in an effort to get a place in the Cabinet of YS Rajasekhara Reddy through re-election as an INC MLA. He was defeated in the by-election.

After delimitation of constituencies, Nagender contested and won from Khairatabad Assembly Constituency in 2009 elections. Nagender was inducted into the cabinet for the first time by YSR in 2009 and held the portfolio of Health and Medical Services and continued in the same portfolio in the cabinet of Konijeti Rosaiah. He resigned from the INC on June 23, 2018, joined the TRS and won from Khairathabad in the 2018 Assembly election.

P Vijaya Reddy (INC)

Vijaya Reddy is the daughter of former minister and ex-Congress Legislative Party leader P Janardhan Reddy. Her brother P Vishnuvardhan Reddy is a former MLA from Jubilee Hills constituency. In 2014, Vijaya Reddy contested from Khairathabad from the YSRCP but ended up in third place. Later in August, 2014 she joined the TRS and got elected to the GHMC twice from Khairathabad. In June, 2022 Vijaya Reddy resigned from the BRS and rejoined the INC. She was appointed as TPCC general secretary in December 2022.

Chintala Ramachandra Reddy (BJP)

Chintala Ramachandra Reddy embarked on his political journey by becoming an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In 2009, Ramchandra Reddy contested from the Khairathabad Assembly constituency from the BJP and was defeated in the elections. However, in the 2014 Assembly elections, Ramchandra Reddy secured a significant victory by defeating Danam Nagender and became an MLA for the first time.

Assembly Constituency Information

In the last six major elections in Khairatabad, the BJP won thrice, the INC won twice and people blessed the TRS in 2018. The Congress was very strong in the past and won 14 times out of 17 elections. P Janaradhan Reddy (PJR) won five times from Khairatabad, he was the most loved leader by the people and his legacy is still strong in the AC. The present MLA Danam Nagender was a former senior congress leader and presently this AC lacks a strong candidate from the INC.

Khairatabad is usually a Congress dominant seat. Youth vote base is high, which accounts to 1.20 lakh plus. A good chunk of area from Jubilee and Banjara Hills comes under Khairatabad.

In GHMC elections, TRS won in four and BJP in two divisions under the constituency.

Khairatabad was established in 1967. Post the delimitation Kukatpally, Serelingampally, Jubilee Hills became separate AC’s and Himayath Nagar and Ameerpet included in it.

Neighborhood: Narayanguda, Hyderguda, Himayatnagar, Lakdikapul, Punjagutta, Raj Bhavan Road, Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Basheerbagh (part), King Koti (part), Chintal Basti (part)

MLA Profile

Danam Nagendra was born in Khairatabad to a family of freedom fighters. His father’s brother was a mayor and was very accessible with people . He has four siblings and one brother is very close to former Chief Minister of erstwhile AP, N Kiran Kumar Reddy. Nagender started his political journey with the Congress Party and he was a four time MLA.

From the beginning of his political journey, Danam Nagendra made himself visible in front of the Congress high command because of his family relations with INC politicians and powerful people. He maintained a cordial relationship with everyone in the INC leadership and its cadre. He had close ties with the INC high command in Delhi and former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. Danam Nagendra was disappointed with the INC decision in 2004 of denying him the ticket, which caused a lot of clashes.

Danam Nagendra is a great follower of P Janardhan Reddy, he and his wife worship him everyday. He is a crowd puller. On Sundays he spends time with family and close friends. He is survived by two daughters. The MLA is into real estate and construction business as well as agriculture trade. Nagendra completed his Post Graduation from Madurai Kamaraj University and is a mass leader with a strong base in Hyderabad city.

Cultural / Historical / Religious Identifiers

• Mahankali Temple
• Somajiguda Ayyappa Swamy Temple
• TTD temple in Jubilee Hills
• TTD Temple in Himayat Nagar
• Hussain sagar
• Rajbhavan
• Ganesh Chaturti celebrations

2014 Election Analysis:

In the 2014 elections, the alliance with the TDP helped to secure the seat by the BJP. Chintala Ramachandra Reddy was a RSS follower and least controversial. Reddy’s X factor was that he was the leader who struck a balance between the middle class-elitist, something like what late P Janardhan Reddy (PJR) pulled off for three decades in Khairatabad constituency and electors craved for this.

Other political parties also fielded candidates from Reddy community which led to split of Reddy votes. The TDP-BJP alliance attracted the BC community because of the strong presence of BC leaders in the TDP. Since, Reddy leaders had dominated this seat in the past and had the most political influence, all these factored for victory of Ramachandra Reddy.

Vijaya, daughter of PJR contested from the YSRCP but failed to match up to her fathers legacy and managed only her family's loyal supporters and was backed by the christian community.

2018 Election Analysis:

Before the elections Danam Nagender joined the TRS. He is a mass leader.

• Nagender's entire cadre joined TRS.
• In slums and basti’s Danam cadre took the word that if TRS loses the seat the welfare schemes would be stopped in the constituency..
• Danam Nagendra promised to build up to around 15,000 double-bedroom houses in Khairatabad constituency in the coming days.
• Govardhan Reddy along with his followers protested at Telangana Bhavan because he was upset over KCR's silence on the allocation of tickets, former TRS 2014 candidate Meanwhile, the police made a lathi charge to control the mob in which Reddy got injured. He was shifted to City Neuro Hospital.
• Dasoju Sravan Kumar, who left the PRP was sympathised by people. He was not a field politician but an intellectual politician, think tank for the TRS and was in a good position.

Current Situation

• Danam Nagender is facing anti-incumbency. Unfulfilled promises to regularise the houses and double bedrooms. Few double bedroom houses were built opposite the IMAX movie complex but it was not completed.
• In this election, P Vijaya Reddy expected a ticket and Hyderabad mayor Vijaya Lakshmi expected a ticket in the last elections but she is aiming for a ticket in next elections.
• The BJP won 1 division in the GHMC elections and people are expecting the OBC candidate to contest on the Party ticket.
• The INC lost their base because of Danam’s defect and he took the majority of his cadre to join the TRS.
• The INC is targeting Muslim vote bank because the MIM is not contesting in the segment.

Key Local Issues

• Underground drainage system.
• Basti regularisation among other issues.