All parties scramble to win Warangal bypoll

HYDERABAD: Three major parties - the TRS, Congress and the BJP-TDP combine - have already started scrambling to find suitable candidates for the Warangal Lok Sabha byelection, which has become imminent as the election of Kadiyam Srihari, who represents the constituency, to the Legislative Council is more or less a foregone conclusion.
The deputy chief minister will resign as Warangal MP soon after the council polls on Monday.Consequently, byelection to the Warangal parliament seat, which is reserved for the scheduled castes, has to be held within six months. Former Congress MP from Peddapalli G Vivekananda's name is doing rounds as a probable candidate for all major parties.
"Since all the three parties stand equal chance of winning the by-poll, obviously they are looking to field a candidate with better winning chances. We hear that both the BJP and TRS are in talks with Vivek. Since he is our party leader, the Congress may also consider his candidature," said Katti Venkataswamy, a Congress leader from Warangal district.
While former MP S Rajaiah, who lost his seat to Srihari in the last elections, is willing to contest again on the Congress ticket, sources said the party is yet to take a call on his candidature.
The BJP-TDP combine, which came third in the last elections, is nursing aspirations to win the Warangal seat this time by cashing in on the differences among the TRS leaders in the district while the popularity of the Congress is apparently on the wane.
"The BJP thinks this is the best opportunity to win the Warangal seat, and the leaders are already drawing up poll strategies. Names, including that of Vivek, are being considered," said M Raghunandan Rao, chief spokesperson of Telangana BJP.
Other names being discussed in the BJP are former Congress MP from Malkajgiri, Sarve Satyanarayana, Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TJAC) leader Mallepalli Lakshmaiah, Madiga Dandora leader Manda Krishna Madiga, and R Paramesh, who was the BJP-TDP candidate in the last elections.
Not willing to take a chance in the prestigious battle, the TRS is said to be mulling fielding Vivek while names of Errolla Srinivas and Manda Jaganatham are also being considered.
However, even as parties appear to be in a race to woo Vivek, who lost the Peddapalli seat to the TRS candidate, appears to have some odds stacked against him. In the district dominated by the Madiga community, many feel a Mala leader like Vivek, besides being seen as an outsider, would find it difficult to win over the voters.
When contacted, Vivek said no party, including his own Congress, had broached the issue of Warangal candidature with him. "I am taking a break right now and no one has asked me to run for any elections. I will take a call when the time comes," he added.
Meanwhile, confirming his plan to resign as the Warangal MP before June 10, Kadiam said that the TRS would field a strong candidate to succeed him. "Without any doubt the TRS is going to win the by-poll. But it is too early to talk about the candidate," he said.