Hyderabad: Telangana Congress chief and Malkajgiri MP Revanth Reddy is leading in Kamareddy assembly constituency over his rival Chief Minister K. Chandrasekar Rao of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) with 2,585 votes.
In Kodangal, his home constituency he lost in 2018, Revanth is leading by 2,513 votes, over Narendar Reddy of BRS.
Revanth, 54, is seen as a front runner for the CM seat, if the Congress manages to gain power in Telangana, as several exit, opinion polls have predicted.
The Malkajgiri Lok Sabha MP had joined the Congress party in 2017 and became the Telangana unit chief in 2021. He was a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator earlier.
In a party seen as embroiled in feuds and faction wars, Revanth, Congress leaders say, was given some latitude in order to lead the Congress to victory in the polls.
“I am going to win in both Kamareddy and Kodangal,” Revanth told reporters Thursday, while asking the cadres to begin celebrations “as the Congress will form the new government in the state on 9 December”.
“The high command would decide who will become the CM,” Revanth said Friday, predicting 80 seats for Congress and that KCR and KTR will pack their bags to shift to a farmhouse and the US, respectively.
Kamareddy with a total 2,45,982 registered voters, recorded a voting percentage of 75.6 percent on Thursday. It falls under the Zaheerabad Lok Sabha constituency.
While KCR choosing to contest in Kamareddy in addition to Gajwel came as a surprise, the Congress too, in a last-minute move, fielded Revanth here to take the CM on, in addition to Kodangal.
In his poll speeches, Revanth accused KCR of coming to Kamareddy to grab lands, “since there are no lands left in Gajwel for the KCR family to encroach on”.
The major issue has been the Kamareddy master plan, intended by the BRS government for expansion and development of the district headquarters. The plan includes eight villages in the town’s vicinity, opposed by the locals.
Revanth accused KCR of designing the plan to snatch fertile lands of farmers in the name of development. BJP candidate Venkataramana Reddy, a party source expressed confidence, will trounce KCR in Kamareddy.
Kodangal with a total registered 2,30,415 voters, recorded a voting percentage of 82 percent on Thursday. This is the seat Revanth won twice (2004 & 2009) as a TDP candidate but lost to the BRS in 2018, as the Congress candidate. BRS candidate is Narendar Reddy and BJP fielded Bantu Ramesh.
In a BRS rally in Kodangal, KCR termed Revanth “a big thief and land grabber” and predicted the defeat of CM seat hopeful here. “He can anyway not become the CM as the Congress cannot win more than 20 seats in the assembly,” KCR said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Source: The Print
