Got-up matches sealed BJP's fate

HYDERABAD: The one seat on which there is no speculation ever is the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat. It has been a bastion of the MIM but it''s main rival, the BJP left no stone unturned in the constituency to unseat the MIM candidate in last few elections.
As long as the BJP and the Congress both field their candidates from the constituency, the MIM cannot be defeated.But hidden alliances work in the MIM''s favour. There is always tacit understanding with the Congress.
Hyderabad was a stronghold of the Congress for 30 years since the inception of the constituency in 1952. The party candidate could defeat the MIM candidate Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi in 1977.
It was with the entry of the TDP in to the electoral scene that the MIM''s luck changed. In 1984, in the TDP wave, the Congress lost the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat for the first time. But the ultimate beneficiary was Salahuddin Owaisi who grabbed the seat for the first time.
This was the beginning for the MIM and since then the party has never lost the seat.
The TDP''s attempts to win the seat did not bear fruit again. In 1989, Teegala Krishna Reddy was defeated by Owaisi with a margin of 1,33,078 votes. This margin is the highest ever for Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat till date.
It was the BJP that secured the second position in all elections since 1989 and the Congress always remained at the third position since the 1984 election. The BJP''s Baddam Balreddy tried his luck for three times in 1991, 1998 and 1999, while M Venkaiah Naidu contested once on a BJP ticket in 1996 but in vain. Except for affecting the winning margin of the MIM none of the parties could dislodge the MIM. The Congress candidate has always been in the fray but that has only been of help to the MIM.