Former MP Lagadapati Rajagopal’s prediction triggered curiosity on what is happening in the ground level in Narayanapet assembly segment in Mahabubnagar district. He predicted the victory for a rebel candidate named K. Siva Kumar Reddy who is contesting on the Bahujan Left Front ticket in this election. This has come as an embarrassment for the main players like TRS and Congress.
The ground situation is that there is a four-cornered contest in Narayanapet segment. Sitting MLA SR Reddy is the TRS nominee while Saraf Krishna is Congress candidate. There is also BJP candidate Rathang Pandu Reddy. All these four candidates challenged each other in 2014 elections and they all got above 20,000 votes. Finally, the then TDP candidate SR Reddy won over TRS nominee Siva Kumar Reddy with a majority of 2,270 votes.
After winning, SR Reddy shifted loyalties to TRS because of which Siva Kumar Reddy quit TRS and joined Congress in September this year. But Congress gave ticket to its old candidate and BC leader Saraf Krishna, which again forced Siva Kumar Reddy to quit Congress and remain in contest on BLF ticket.
As per Lagadapati predictions, Siva Kumar Reddy is the favourite in this election. Siva Kumar Reddy’s strengths are his wide contacts with local people and his accessible nature for the people. Some TDP leaders are also supporting the candidature of Siva Kumar Reddy. Because of his community service activities in digging borewells and so on, he has got good name. His presence is giving tough time to main contestants.
