With both the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Bharatiya Janata Party keen to win the forthcoming Parkal byelection, the delay by the two parties in announcing their candidates has generated a lot of curiosity among political observers. By all accounts, each party is waiting for the other to make the first move, before finalising its own candidate.
The TRS, which received a jolt from the BJP in the Mahbubnagar bypolls held two months ago is well aware that if it loses in Parkal, it would prove costly to its Telangana-centric politics in the coming days, especially as the seat is in the Telangana hotbed, Warangal district. The TRS, in a strategic move, has not decided its candidate for the seat, even though there are a number of potential candidates, M. Bikshpathy, TRS district convener Peddi Sudarshan Reddy and advocate Sahodara Reddy, who is highly respected.
The BJP, on its part, is said to be waiting for the TRS to make its decision, thus giving a twist to the byelections. According to reports, the BJP may field Mr Sahodara Reddy, who has RSS links, in case he is not considered by the TRS. TRS sources believe Mr Sahodara Reddy will not be the candidate as he had worked for the victory of BJP candidate Yennam Srinivas Reddy in the Mahbubnagar bypoll.
The BJP is also actively considering whether to field Rasamay Balakishen, a popular Telangana folk artiste, in order to ensure the defeat of the TRS. BJP state president G. Kishan Reddy said "We are withholding the announcement of our candidate as part of our strategy. We may do it after coming to know the TRS nominee. Like any other political party, the BJP is treating Parkal seat as a prestige issue.”
The game of one-upmanship apart, one thing is sure. In the last byelections for the six Assembly segments held in Telangana, the TRS won four segments on its own and supported an Independent candidate in Nagarkurnool, Nagam Janardhan Reddy. Mr Janardhan Reddy won, but the TRS failed to win the Mahbubnagar Assembly seat, part of the Parliamentary constituency represented by none other than the party chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao. This time, only one Assembly segment for which byelection would be held falls in the Telangana region and any adverse result for the TRS would kick-start new political alignments, like the emergence of the BJP or the YSR Congress as major political players in the region.
This certainly would not bode well for the TRS. “We are aware that the TRS would be targeted by all the parties in case we lose the bypoll”, said a party politburo member. Though the TRS has already started the campaign in a big way in Parkal, pressing into service the party's bypoll specialist T. Harish Rao, the delay in announcing its candidate is being keenly watched.