Second generation BRS, Congress politicians battle it out for Nagarjuna Sagar seat

Assembly Constituency: Nagarjuna Sagar

Parliament: Nalgonda

District: Nalgonda

MLA Name: Nomula Bhagath (Yadav)

MP Name: Uttam Kumar Reddy

Reservation: GEN

Total Voters: 2,23,431 Rural Voters: 95%

Booths: 299 Male: 50%

Urban Voters: 5% Female: 50%

Caste & Religious Demography:

• Gen + OBC: 64.4%
  
• SC: 18%
• ST: 17.6%
• Hindu: 94.5%
• Muslim: 4.6%
• Others :1%

Candidates

Nomula Bhagath (BRS)

Born in 1984 to Nomula Narsimhaiah, Bhagath is an advocate by profession. In a by-election necessitated by the death of his father, he entered the fray on behalf of the BRS and defeated stalwart Kunduru Jana Reddy of Congress by a margin of 18,872 votes.

Jayaveer Kunduru (Congress)

Coming out of the shadow of his father former Minister Kunduru Jana Reddy, his youngest son Jayaveera is confident of victory. He already started a ‘Girijana Chaitanya Yatra’ to consolidate the tribal vote in his father’s stronghold. The first-timer started scouting for the BRS activists willing to join the Congress.

Kankanala Niveditha Reddy (BJP)

The name of Nivedita Reddy, a BSc in Genetics, was announced in the first lift of candidates. She contested unsuccessfully in the 2018 assembly elections and lost. She is now confident that the tides have turned in favour of the BJP in Telangana. Her husband Kankanala Sridhar Reddy is also a senior leader in the district BJP unit.

Assembly Constituency information:

Background: Nagarjuna Sagar Assembly comes under Nalgonda Parliament constituency. It was called Chalakurthi Assembly until 2009, after the 2009 delimitation Gurrampodu Mandal was added to the Chalakurthi and it was renamed Nagarjuna Sagar. Nagarjuna Sagar was a Congress bastion until Kunduru Jana Reddy got hold of it in 1983 by winning as an independent candidate, later he joined the TDP in 1985 and won the seat. He defected to Congress in 1989 and represented the constituency up to 2018 as an INC candidate. He lost only twice in 1994 and again in 2020 by-elections.

Demography: Nagarjuna Sagar constituency has around 2,17,382 electors as per 2019 data and it is a rural constituency with 95 percent of voters belonging to rural areas. There are seven mandals in the constituency with Tripuraram mandal being the stronghold of the INC. It is a BC-dominated constituency, with 1,10,000 BC voters (>50%), Yadav community and Reddy communities are dominant communities with regard to political strength in the constituency.

Geography: Nagarjuna Sagar consists of six mandals: Anumula, Nidamanur, Thripuraram, Pedhavura, Tirumalagiri and Gurrampodu. Before 2009 Dhamaracharla mandal was part of Sagar now it was merged with Miryalaguda Assembly and Gurrampodu mandal which was part of Miryalaguda was merged with Sagar constituency. Seven villages of Madgulapakky mandal comes under Nagarjunasagar, apart from the six Manuals

Mandal wise party strength:

The TRS has a strong base in the Anumula and Nidamanur mandals, In the Anumula mandal the TRS won 4 MPTCs, INC won three. In Nidamanur, the TRS won nine MPTCs and INC won five, but ZPTC was won by the INC. In Pedhavura the TRS won five and the INC won five. In Pedhavura mandal both Parties have a similar base.

In Thirumalagiri, the TRS won eight MPTCs, the INC won 2 MPTCs. M.C. Koti Reddy belongs to this mandal he is very influential. The TRS is very strong in this mandal.

In Thripuraram, TRS won four INC won eight MPTcs ,STs population Especially lambadis is major electors in Thripuraram mandal they were inclined towards JanaReddy and Congress and in Gurrampodu mandal TRS won eight and INC won four ZPTCs Anumula, Gurrampodu, Pedhavura, Tirumalagiri was won by the TRS and Nidamanuru, Thripuraram won by the Congress.

Economy: It is an agriculture-dependent Assembly constituency. Nagarjuna Sagar canal is the lifeline for the majority of the people in this AC. This AC is void of industries

MLA Profile:

Personal Background: Nomula Bhagath is the son of the Late Nomula Narasimhaiah who was a three-time MLA, twice from Nakerekal (2004,1999) and Nagarjuna Sagar (2018). Nomula Bhagat's father was the CPI-M Floor Leader in the Legislative Assembly (1999-2009). Narsimhaiah joined the TRS in 2014.

Profession and Education: B.Tech, LLB. He is an advocate by proession, and worked as software in Satyam computers

Cadre Strength: Cadre strength is very weak for the party and the candidate Nomula Bhagath does not have much hold in the constituency due to the lack of availability to the public in the constituency. After the demise of his father support of Yadava community started fading.

Financial Strength: Strong

2014 Assembly Analysis:

Jana Reddy won the election in 2014, as Congress candidate with ten percent of the majority and the TRS candidate Nomula Narshimaiah (Yadav) was relegated to second place. Kadari Anjaiah Yadav contested on the TDP ticket with support from the BJP. Jana Reddy had a good hold on the constituency and he was popular among the SC, ST, Reddies, and minority voters. That support has helped him for many years.

In 2014 also that same formula made him MLA. Nomula Narsimiah was from the Nakirekal constituency and he was new to Sagar. After the formation of Telangana, Jana Reddy a senior leader in Telangana,was projected as CM candidate in 2014, which was also one of the reasons for his victory. The Reddy community worked very actively because a congress victory in the State meant that Jana Reddy would be the CM candidate.

In 1985, Jana Reddy gave homes to poor people in the Pailan colony at a nominal rate of Rs 100. In 1987 he built 150 new houses in the BC colony. In 2014, he built a thousand houses for poor people in the Sagar area. From Thripuraram, Tirumalagiri, Pedhavura and Nidamanur mandals most of the Lamabadas and SCs got assigned lands and got many subsidy loans with the help of Jana Reddy.

2018 Assembly Analysis:

In 2014 K Jana Reddy won the constituency because of the stronghold he had over the constituency. The TRS candidate Nomula Narasimhaiah could not swing the voters because he joined the party in 2014 and lacks the support of the cadre and also he traditionally belongs to the Nakerakal constituency, where he was a strong force, and Yadav community votes got split due to the candidature of Kadari Anjaiah from the TDP and all these factors made Nomula to lose the seat to Jana Reddy by 16,476 votes

By-election Analysis

TRS candidate won the election mainly because of the backing of the Yadav community and poll management. The TRS deployed a huge contingent of leaders, ministers and MLAs for the by-election and whereas the INC did not support the candidate with enough funds. Even though the BJP fielded Ravi Naik from the Lambadi community, they did not support the BJP because of the lack of familiarity with the candidate.

Current Situation

At present there is an anti-incumbency situation against the Government, and there is a lot of dissatisfaction and anger against the present MLA, among the Reddy community and other dominant BC communities due to the dominance of Yadavas. But there is no strong face for BJP in the constituency. The INC candidate K Jana Reddy is aging and is considered a rich candidate to take care of the important constituency.

Key Local Issues:

• Bus facility is not available to many villages
• Government hospital limited to 30 beds
• Patients recommended to Nalgonda and Hyderabad
• Only one Junior govt college in Halia
• No bathrooms at Sagar dam for visitors.
• Nidamanur and Halia facing acute drainage problem