Huzurnagar bypoll: Big guns from Delhi missing in action

HYDERABAD: Unlike the assembly and Parliament elections which saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, BJP national president Amit Shah, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath among other national level leaders hitting the campaign trail in Telangana, no big guns from the national level are visiting the state to campaign for the bypoll in Huzurnagar assembly constituency.
With just four days left for the campaigning to come to an end, the Congress has no plans of inviting any of its national level leaders to hit the hustings in Huzurnagar segment. TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy told TOI that they have not requested the AICC leadership to depute any of the national level leaders. However, veterans and senior Congress leaders have set aside their differences and are campaigning for the victory of party candidate N Padmavathi Reddy. Moreover, the Congress, which is banking on the development by Uttam Kumar Reddy in the last 10 years in the constituency, is reportedly upbeat as it claims that there is an anti-incumbency wave in view of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s diktat to 48,000 RTC employees.
Meanwhile, the TRS is harping on the chief minister’s charisma and his welfare schemes to inflict a humiliating defeat on the Congress. By defeating three-time winner Congress in Huzurnagar, the ruling party looks to send a clear message to the people that Congress party’s days are numbered. TRS MLC and bypoll in-charge Palla Rajeshwar Reddy said that voters are eagerly waiting to listen to KCR who will address a public meeting in Huzurnagar on October 17. The ruling TRS is confident that KCR’s message to the people in Huzurnagar will enable it to trounce the Congress with a huge majority.
The BJP campaign is likely to end with Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy's roadshows and meeting in Huzurnagar on October 18. However, the party leaders said they were trying to get one or two national level leaders such as Union minister Smriti Irani to campaign in Huzurnagar.
TDP state president L Ramana ruled out N Chandrababu Naidu's participation in the campaign and said that only state level leaders will be campaigning in the constituency.