For BJP, all eyes now on Vemulawada

Hyderabad: After defeating the ruling TRS in Dubbak and Huzurabad, the BJP has set its eyes on the Vemulawada assembly constituency anticipating a bypoll.

TRS sitting MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh is facing charges of being a German citizen and a case is pending in the high court about his citizenship issue. The talk in political circles is that most likely there would be a bypoll if the court judgment does not come in favour of Ramesh.

While Tula Uma of BJP is getting ready for a contest in Vemulawada, political observers said the Congress too has a strong candidate in Adi Srinivas. With the constituency being a sitting seat of the ruling TRS, this segment has all the ingredients to throw up an interesting triangular contest in case of a bypoll.

Tula Uma is from former minister Huzurabad MLA Eatala Rajender’s camp. She was among some of the top leaders from the undivided Karimnagar district to quit the TRS and join BJP in June along with Eatala. Speaking to TOI, Tula Uma said though the BJP leadership has not announced her name, she has already started meeting people.

“I am seriously working to contest from Vemulawada. This is my mother’s place. Even when I was in TRS, I had asked for a ticket to contest from here,” Uma said.

Political observers said this has been the strategy of the saffron party even in the byelections held to Dubbak and other constituencies. The BJP candidates had started their campaign much before any other candidate. The BJP would then announce the candidate’s name.

Congress’s Adi Srinivas, who came second with 55,864 votes in the 2018 assembly polls as against 84,050 votes by winner Chennamaneni Ramesh of TRS, said the MLA has gained dubious name of being a “guest MLA” as he keeps shuttling between Germany and Vemulawada. Ramesh’s camp is confident that the court judgment in the Indian citizenship row would come his favour. Also, Vemulawada is a TRS stronghold in Rajanna Sircilla district under Karimnagar parliamentary constituency.


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