PJR and fate of Congress in twin cities

The death of P Janardhan Reddy is sure to change the contours of political landscape of a majority of the political constituencies in the twin cities. PJR held considerable sway in the Secunderabad areas, specially in his constituency, Khairatabad which stretched from Jubilee Hills all the way to Alwal, 20 kms away.

PJR had made Khairatabad his pocket borough and by default made sure that the neighbouring areas were also manned by his men, loyalty being the core attribute. With an image of an approachable MLA, unlike others of his ilk, PJR made the cardinal mistake done often by politicians – not creating a second in command. His son Vishnu who will be the Congress nominee to fill in the void in Khairatabad is a greenhorn to rough and tumble of politics. His brush-ins with the powers in command have not helped the cause either.

The immediate fallout of PJRs death will be felt in the elections to the Secunderabad Cantonment, which will be held shortly. Most of the men, including satraps like J Pratap and Gowrishankar do not see eye to eye. In the last elected body of the SCB, the two came close to an eye-ball to eye-ball confrontation. PJR had to step in an arrive at a truce, wherein Gowrishankar would be the Vice President of SCB for two and half years, and Pratap would preside over the rest. Now that the Cantonment has seen the addition of one more constituency, things will all the more difficult. PJR’s iron hand in ensuring discipline will be missing, and with it Congress rebels spoiling the show is sure.

If the delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies goes ahead, then BJP will up the ante, and many of the city seats will witness a tough fight. Anjan Kumar Yadav could find that Bandaru Dattatreya more than a handful, if TRS puts up its candidate.

Similarly, assembly segments like Musheerabad could be in for a tough fight, with Dr Laxman of BJP making a determined effort to make good of his narrow loss to Nayani Narasimha Reddy. The trade union leader could find that Congress will play the role of a spoiler here and with it his chances for the next term to the assembly.

Padma Rao of TRS could also end up in the electoral dustbin, with his track record nothing much to write home about. Alladi raj kumar of TDP and Mary Ravindranath of Congress could make things tough for him.

Sanathnagar though decimated in size, post delimitation could see Sashidhar Reddy staying on considering his ‘nice man’ image, and this could be one sure seat for the Congress.

Maharajgunj the smallest constituency could well disappear and Mukesh Goud will have to look for a new place to contest from. BJPs Prem Singh Rathod could find favour with the Marwari community that dominates the erstwhile constituency.

But the greatest challenge in 2009 could be for PJR’s constituency, with Vijaya Rama Rao going all out to ensure that he gets back the constituency which he won last time around. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy will find the going tough as the sympathy factor of PJR would have dissipated by then. The new immigrants from other states who now form a big part of the IT hub, will be crucial in determining the fortunes.

Whatever said and done, PJRs death has pitchforked the fate of Congress party into the open. What happens next is anybody’s guess.