Hyderabad: The Khammam Assembly constituency is set to witness a keen tussle between Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and former minister Thummala Nageswara Rao, who defected to Congress after the ruling party denied him a ticket.
A five-time MLA, who served as minister in both the undivided Andhra Pradesh and in Telangana, Nageswara Rao is contesting to prove a point while Ajay Kumar is in search of a hat-trick.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has left this seat for its ally Jana Sena Party (JSP) under the seat sharing agreement. JSP led by actor Pawan Kalyan has fielded Miryala Ramakrishna.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which failed to reach a seat sharing agreement with Congress, has fielded Yerra Srikanth.
Once considered a stronghold of the Left parties, Khammam had last elected CPI candidate in 2004 when Congress had an electoral alliance with the Communist parties.
Tummala, who has been with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) since its inception in early 1980s, had served as a minister in the undivided Andhra Pradesh in the cabinets of N. T. Rama Rao and Chandrababu Naidu and later became the minister in Telangana’s first government.
A five-time MLA and senior leader from Khammam district, he joined Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now BRS) in 2014 after the formation of Telangana state. He served as minister for roads and buildings in the first TRS government headed by KCR.
Tummala was elected to Andhra Pradesh from Sathupalli constituency in 1985, 1994 and 1999. After Sathupalli was reserved for SCs, he moved to Khammam constituency and later also tried his luck from Palair
Tummala was elected on TRS ticket from Palair in the 2016 by-election. However, in 2018, he lost to Kandla Upender Reddy of the Congress party.
As Upender Reddy too had defected to TRS, the party decided to renominate him, dashing hopes of Tummala who was an aspirant for the ticket.
The Congress lured Tummala to its camp. Though he wanted the ticket from Palair, Congress already committed it to former MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, who too had crossed over from BRS.
Khammam Assembly segment will see a direct fight between Ajay Kumar and Tummala, both from Kamma community, a powerful community in Andhra Pradesh.
The undivided Khammam district near Andhra Pradesh border is different from the rest of Telangana as the people here are culturally considered close to the neighbouring state.
Even at the peak of Telangana movement and after formation of Telangana, the TRS (now BRS) had not found the ground in the district, which has a large number of people who either migrated from Andhra Pradesh or have family relations across the border.
In 2014 elections, TRS could win just one out of 10 Assembly seats in undivided Khammam district.
However, the party increased its tally to seven by luring five MLAs from YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and Congress party.
In Khammam constituency, Tummala who was then a TDP candidate lost to Ajay Kumar, son of the late CPI leader Puvvada Nageswara Rao, by a margin of 5,682 votes. Ajay Kumar, who had contested on Congress ticket, polled 70,465 votes (37.91%) while Tummala secured 64,783 (34.85%).
After the election both Ajay Kumar and Tummala joined the TRS. Chief Minister KCR inducted Tummala into the Cabinet after his nomination to the Legislative Council.
However, Tummala won the Assembly by-election from Palair constituency in Khammam district with a massive majority of over 45,000 votes against the Congress party candidate.
Ajay Kumar, who retained the Khammam seat in 2018, became a minister in the second TRS government.
Except Khammam, the TRS lost in all other constituencies in undivided Khammam district. However, the ruling party once again increased its tally to nine as eight MLAs from Congress and TDP switched loyalties.
Tummala was earlier elected from Khammam constituency on TDP ticket in 2009. He, however, had lost to Ajay Kumar in 2014 polls.
In 2018, Ajay Kumar retained the seat, defeating Nama Nageswara Rao of TDP by 10,991 votes. TDP had an electoral alliance with Congress. Ajay polled 102,760 votes while Nama Nageswara Rao secured 91,769 votes. Nama Nageswara Rao also defected to TRS later and was elected from Khammam Lok Sabha seat in 2019.
As TDP is not contesting Telangana Assembly polls this time, Tummala Nageswara Rao is hoping that TDP votes will transfer to him.
However, Ajay Kumar is confident that he will romp home once again due to many development works undertaken in the constituency during the last five years.
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