It is Congress versus BJP in Telangana, BRS pushed to the third spot

New Delhi: The upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Telangana will see a keen contest between the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 5 seats. 

Out of the total 17 seats in Telangana, a three-cornered contest between the Congress, the BJP and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is expected on 5. 

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is set to retain its bastion Hyderabad, and the grand old party is comfortably placed in 6 seats.

The seats on which the Congress is directly pitted against the BJP are Adilabad, Zahirabad, Nagarkurnool, Mahbubnagar and Chevella.

Medak, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Secunderabad and Malkajgiri could witness a three-cornered battle. 

The Congress appears to be strong in Khammam, Mahabubabad, Peddapalli, Warrangal, Bhuvanagiri (Bhongir) and Nalgonda. 

Being a ruling party some months ago, the BRS has now been relegated to the third position with many senior leaders either joining the BJP or the Congress. 

The BJP appears to be a favourite destination of backward-class leaders while the Congress continues to get good traction among the Muslims, Dalits and the powerful Reddy community.

There is a strong rumour that one of the Gandhi siblings might contest from Telangana. In that case, Khammam, and not Medak, from where late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi successfully contested in the 1980 Lok Sabha elections, will be the safest seat for them given that former Lok Sabha member from the constituency Renuka Chowdhary is now a Rajya Sabha member. 

Former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) had also won from Medak in 2014.

On Saturday, the BJP released its first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Out of these, nine were from Telangana. 

State BJP chief, union minister and sitting Lok Sabha member G Kishan Reddy has been re-nominated from Secunderabad.

Two other sitting members Bandi Sanjay Kumar and Arvind Dharmapuri will contest from Karimnagar and Nizamabad respectively. 

While Karimnagar comprises the Sircilla assembly segment from where BRS leader and KCR's son KT Rama Rao is a member, Nizamabad was represented by the former chief minister's daughter K Kavitha from 2014 to 2019. She lost the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and is reportedly not interested in contesting the upcoming polls, insisting that she will contest from Medak if one of the Gandhi siblings decides to fight from there.

Former BRS leader and state minister Eatala Rajender, who won the 2021 by-election from Huzurabad but lost the seat in the 2023 assembly polls, will contest from Malkajgiri, previously held by Telangana chief minister and state Congress president A Revanth Reddy. 

Following their defection from the BRS to the BJP last week, Zahirabad MP BB Patil and Nagarkurnool MP Pothuganti Ramulu have been given tickets to contest from their sitting constituencies. 

Rumours mills are doing the rounds in Hyderabad political circles that senior BRS leader Harish Rao will contest from Zahirabad. 

BJP leader Konda Vishweshwar Reddy will fight from Chevella, a seat he had won in 2014 on a BRS ticket. 

Dr Boora Narsaiah Goud, who joined the BJP from the BRS in 2023, has been fielded from Bhuvanagiri (Bhongir), which he had won as a BRS candidate in 2014.

From Hyderabad, the BJP has fielded Dr K Madhavi Latha, the chairperson of Virinchi Hospitals. Hyderabad has been an AIMIM stronghold since 1989 and its chief Asaduddin Owaisi has consecutively won the past four Lok Sabha elections from the seat.