East Or West, Warangal No More TRS Fortress?

Anvesh Reddy

Ever since its inception, the Warangal West assembly constituency in Warangal urban district has been a stronghold of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which emerged victorious in 2009 and 2014 with Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar as its face. The last time around in 2014, Vinay Bhaskar secured a thumping win from the constituency with a 56,304 vote majority opposite the Congress's Errabelli Swarna, who got 27,188 votes to her name from an electoral strength of 2,33,905.

The December 7 Assembly polls, however, invited a change in political dynamics in Warangal West--the Congress-led people's front fielded TDP candidate Revuri Prakash Reddy opposite the TRS candidate. It turns out that the senior TDP leader who originally aspired to contest from his constituency, Narsampet, is posing a serious challenge to TRS in the upcoming elections. Adding to TRS's woes in the constituency will be BJP candidate Marthineni Dharma Rao, the third-placed candidate who amassed 18,584 in 2014.

On the other side, the TRS leadership placed its faith in Nannapaneni Narender in place of former MLA Konda Surekha in Warangal East. Back in 2014, Surekha was roped in to contest from the constituency against Congress stalwart Baswaraj Saraiah. With Saraiah joining the TRS and Surekha returning to poll battle in her home constituency Parkal, TRS's fresh nominee Nannapaneni Narender faces a challenge from Gade Inaiah of the Congress and Kusuma Satish of the BJP.

In 2014, Saraiah, the Congress candidate then, secured 33,556 votes while Surekha exceeded his tally by a 55,085 vote majority. BJP candidate Padma Rao stood distant third with 11,639 votes. Watch this space for more updates on Telangana Assembly elections 2018.

Also Read: Triangular Fight In Bhupalpally Makes It Tough For TRS In December 7 Polls