Danam regains lost touch

HYDERABAD: Until last Saturday, many in the Congress were wondering whether health minister Danam Nagender had lost his touch. Like his mentor P Janardhan Reddy (PJR), Danam had literally risen from the rank and file of the party to become arguably the most powerful Congress leader in the city. And settling scores in a street-level style was his forte. But having become a minister for the last one year, many thought he had changed.That was not so, and on the weekend Nagender with his rough and ready ways browbeat a realtor whom he felt was in the wrong with regard to a certain construction in Banjara Hills.
It was the Khairatabad strongman PJR who took in Danam, who grew up in a local basti, and groomed him to become his lieutenant. Very soon, the protege displayed leadership skills by managing to rally a large number of youth behind him. An impressed PJR then pushed him for a Congress nomination for the Asifnagar assembly seat in 1989.
Considered an MIM stronghold, Asifnagar had few takers from the Congress and it was a bold move on the part of Danam to accept the challenge. Although he lost the election, Danam continued to nurture the constituency and was successful in winning from there in the 1994 elections as well as in the 1999 elections. During all this time, however, the Congress had to be in the opposition as the TDP was in power.
In what appears to be a shrewd move in hindsight, Danam made a major political shift after the 1999 elections by dumping PJR and aligning himself with the rising Congress leader Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. Recognizing the potential in Danam, YSR began grooming him to become a top city leader and in a state Congress where the Kadapa factionist leader had taken on everyone, Danam emerged as his trusted lieutenant.
It was during this period that because of his proximity with YSR, Danam ended up crossing swords with PJR and PCC president D Srinivas. DS and Danam both belong to the same Munnuru Kapu backward caste community and the PCC chief wanted to nip Danam’s political career in the bud as he brooked no competition to his rise in the community.
In the 2004 elections, DS played a masterstroke by allotting the Asifnagar assembly seat to the MIM as part of its electoral alliance with the latter. Denied the Congress ticket from the constituency he had nurtured, Danam joined the Telugu Desam party, secured the Asifnagar seat and managed to win from there. The election also saw the ascent of Rajasekhara Reddy as the Congress chief minister of the state.
YSR directed Danam to quit the TDP and his Asifnagar assembly seat and ensured his return to the Congress fold. He fought the Asifnagar byelection on the Congress ticket but lost the seat to the MIM. Despite the defeat however, YSR continued to prop up Danam in order to put down PJR who by now had become the chief minister’s bitter enemy along with Sanathnagar MLA M Shashidhar Reddy.
Danam continued to grow under the tutelage of YSR. After the formation of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation in April 2007, Danam was made the Congress president for the GHMC area and was directed by YSR to nurture the Khairatabad assembly constituency created in the new delimitation of assembly constituencies. Danam romped home from there in the 2009 elections and was immediately inducted in the cabinet as health minister by YSR.
The city leader appeared to be rudderless immediately after the sudden demise of YSR, but soon fortified himself as a leader in his own right. This was displayed when he scuttled his rival D Srinivas’ chances of getting a party nomination for one of the two legislative council seats falling under the GHMC, and instead got his own candidate elected.
Now, although he is outwardly loyal to YSR’s son and Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, Danam is chartering
a political path of his own. To begin with, the Khiratabad constituency is being given a lot of attention. His intention being that it should remain with him irrespective of the party he represents. With chief minister K Rosaiah also seeking a foothold to firm his grip on the CM’s chair, Danam is destined to grow in strength in the party by virtue of being the foremost City Congress leader at the moment. A slight scuffle with a small time realtor is not going to come in his way, vouch his followers.