HYDERABAD: Former minister Eatala Rajender has a tough task on his hands to retain his Huzurabad Assembly constituency, as several other leaders who were either shown the door, or themselves came out of the ruling TRS party, have failed to make a dent on the ruling party’s electoral prospects in the past.
One of the richest politicians in the country Konda Vishweshwar Reddy had won the Chevella Lok Sabha seat on the TRS ticket in 2014.
Just before the 2018 Assembly elections, he quit TRS to join Congress.
Though he contested the Chevella parliamentary constituency on Congress ticket in 2019, he lost to the TRS.
Former minister Konda Surekha and ex-MLC Ramulu Naik too failed to defeat TRS in the elections they contested after coming out of the party.
She joined Congress after leaving TRS, only to lose the election to TRS’ Challa Dharma Reddy in Parkal Assembly constituency in the 2018 Assembly polls.
Even MLC S Ramulu Naik—who came out of TRS alleging injustice by the party leadership—could not win the Graduate MLC poll from Nalgonda-Warangal-Khammam constituency.
Interestingly, all these leaders had contested on Congress ticket, but Eatala—or one of his family members—is likely to go to the hustings as a candidate of BJP in the bypoll to Huzurabad constituency.
Political analysts said it would be crucial for Eatala to retain the Huzurabad seat keeping in view his political future.
In case of one of his family members is contesting the bypoll, the damage would be minimal to Eatala’s political future even if the seat is lost.
But a victory would see BJP increasing the heat on the ruling party ahead of 2023 Assembly polls.