Nagender's disqualification sets up Khairatabad bypoll test for Congress
Danam Nagender's disqualification as Khairatabad MLA has opened a bypoll that the Congress sees as a chance to deepen its Hyderabad footprint.
The disqualification of Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender has created a fresh opening for the Congress in Hyderabad, with a by-election now looming in the Assembly constituency.
Mr. Nagender won the seat on a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) ticket in the 2023 Assembly elections, later moved to the Congress in 2024, and has since been disqualified. He has already signalled that he wants to contest the bypoll.
For the Congress, the stakes go beyond one seat. Hyderabad remains an area where the BRS retains a sizeable electoral presence, and a win would help the party build both organisational depth and political standing in the city.
Mr. Nagender's candidature could also carry weight because of a pending expansion of the State Cabinet. A bypoll victory could put him in contention for a ministerial berth, an arrangement that would serve two purposes at once: giving Hyderabad a strong elected voice in the Cabinet and providing representation to the Munnuru Kapu community.
At present, the Congress has no Minister elected from Hyderabad district. Mohammed Azharuddin is a Minister associated with the city, but he is a nominated MLC under the Governor's quota.
The question has gained importance after Konda Surekha's removal from the Cabinet. Though a Padmashali, she had filled the Munnuru Kapu requirement because her husband, Konda Murali, belongs to that community. Whether other strong Backward Classes candidates eyeing a Cabinet berth would accept such an arrangement remains an open question, and one that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy will have to navigate.
The developments unfold alongside the Chief Minister's push to widen the Congress's base in the city. After the 2023 elections, the party's Assembly strength in Hyderabad was weak, leaving much of the responsibility for building it on Mr. Revanth Reddy. The Congress later won the Secunderabad Cantonment and Jubilee Hills by-elections, but those victories brought in young, first-time legislators without the influence of established city leaders.
Hyderabad's political equations have also shifted since 2023. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, which had an electoral understanding with the BRS in the previous Assembly election, is now backing the Congress government on several issues.
Before his BRS stint, Mr. Nagender was seen as one of the Congress's influential leaders in Hyderabad, with considerable organisational and electoral reach in the city and the backing of late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy. He joined the BRS to contest and win the 2018 and 2023 polls. During his time in the BRS government, he did not make it to the Cabinet, as another prominent Hyderabad leader, Talasani Srinivas Yadav, already held a ministerial position.
His return to the Congress therefore matters beyond the Khairatabad seat. The immediate hurdle, though, is the by-election itself.