Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s decision to contest from two seats in Telangana has come as a surprise to many. While one of the seats, Gajwel, is his stronghold, from where he won in 2014 and 2018, his other choice, Kamareddy, has raised eyebrows.
When asked about the decision, KCR said: “Since Kamareddy MLA had requested me several times to contest from the constituency, I agreed. There is no other reason behind it.”
Kamareddy MLA and government whip, Gampa Govardhan, had requested KCR earlier this month to contest from his constituency. He said not only the public wanted the CM to contest from there, but even KCR’s ancestors from the region wanted the same. So, it became a natural choice for him.
Since Kamareddy was formed after the division of Nizamabad district, a victory for KCR from the seat might improve the chances of his daughter, Kavitha, contesting to win the Lok Sabha seat. In 2019, Kavitha had lost the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat to BJP’s Arvind Dharmapuri.
E Venkateshu, who is a professor of political science in Hyderabad Central University, told News18: “Every political party engages multiple agencies to study the pulse of the people. Besides money power, the candidate must have a voter base in the constituency. There might have been ground reports, which gave the party inputs regarding chances of winning from both the seats. As we have seen in previous examples — former chief minister NT Rama Rao, who contested from Kalwakurthy and Hindupur, but lost the former; and Praja Rajyam Party founder Chiranjeevi, who contested from Tirupati and Palacole, but lost the latter — charisma alone cannot win you votes. Since KCR has been the CM for 10 years and a tall figure in the statehood struggle, the party might have received inputs that it will win in both constituencies.”
However, a few feel that KCR might have chosen Kamareddy based on the intelligence inputs that his chance of winning Gajwel is low.
“KCR is not confident about Gajwel this time. Opposition may focus more on Gajwel to defeat him if he contested from there. He is depending more on surveys, which are throwing up ambiguous numbers. BJP leader Etela Rajender had vowed that he would defeat KCR in Gajwel. If that happens, the duel between these two tall leaders will attract a lot of attention. Any miscalculation in Gajwel can affect results in the entire state. So, being the intelligent election engineer he is, KCR has chosen a second seat. The KCR family enjoys great goodwill in Kamareddy and a victory is almost certain for BRS there. Even if he loses Gajwel, Kamareddy will save KCR,” said political analyst Kambalapally Krishna, who runs a consultancy called Voice of Telangana and Andhra.
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