MAHABUBNAGAR: Mahbubnagar Parliamentary constituency has always been the playground for big politicos. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, K Chandrasekhar Rao had won from here. He was fighting a lone battle for Telangana at that time.
Come 2014, AP Jitender Reddy won against the Congress stalwart S Jaipal Reddy with the majority of 2,590 votes. KCR’s ascent to the Lok Sabha from Mahbubnagar was a turning point in the Telangana Statehood movement as he was able to leverage his position and add impetus to the struggle. In the year 2009, only two TRS candidates from the Telangana region were sent to the Lok Sabha -- KCR and Vijayashanti from Medak.
KCR defeated Vittal Rao during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls with a majority of 20,186 votes and went on to become the Union Minister in the then UPA government. His stint as a minister helped him garner enough support from various political parties across the country for the creation of a separate Telangana State. It also enabled the TRS party to gain its foothold in the southern part of Telangana.
At the end of KCR’s term, the Telangana movement gained enough strength to force the Centre to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh amidst rancour and opposition from MPs from the latter region.
The Mahbubnagar Parliamentary constituency consists of seven Assembly segments -- Mahbubnagar, Kodangal, Narayanpet, Jadcherla, Devarakadra, Makthal and Shadnagar. Several parts of the constituency are communally sensitive, but it is also home to the historic Jahangir Peer Dargah.
Further, Jadcherla and Shadnagar Assembly segments in the constituency have been witnessing a major real estate boom over the last 15 years due to their proximity to Hyderabad. The construction of the Outer Ring Road and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad has also helped in this regard.
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Mahbubnagar has always been a Congress fortress until it was taken over by KCR. The fight for the constituency has always been among popular personalities rather than political parties.
