Narendra firmly rooted in Old City

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">HYDERABAD: From Old City to Central cabinet it was a long journey for A Narendra, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MP who now represents Medak constituency.<br /><br />Narendra is the first politician from the Old City to become a minister at the Centre. Popularly known as ''Tiger Narendra'' among the people of the Old City, he is one of those few politicians who continues to live in the communally sensitive Moghalpura area.<br /><br />Even as a central minister, he has no plans to shift from this area which has given a new confidence to the people who stay here.<br /><br />Talking to The Times of India, a pan shop owner in Sultan Shahi, Raj Kumar said: "Narendra is the only leader who has chosen to stay in the Old City even after becoming an MP. He is easily accessible."<br /><br />However, Narendra''s journey was not a smooth affair. During the NDA government, he missed becoming a Union minister by a whisker. Soon after that Narendra floated Telangana Sadhana Samiti (TSS), a forum for the cause of separate Telangana which was later merged with TRS.<br /><br />A staunch RSS ideologue, he along with Baddam Bal Reddy had kept the BJP flag flying high for the past two decades. Many BJP leaders of the Old City still feel that the BJP ''had paid a heavy price'' in the Old City by losing Narendra.<br /><br />"Though he is not our MP, we feel proud that a person from the Old City has became a minister at the Centre," said Praveen Kumar who runs a <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">kirana</span> store in the adjacent Hari Bowli area.<br /><br />Though MIM supremo Sultan Salauddin Owaisi won the prestigious Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat for six consecutive terms he was never in the Union cabinet.<br /><br />"I am happy that my father has made it into the Union cabinet. It will help the people a lot and we hope that this area will see a lot of development now," Narendra''s son Jithender said when The Times of India contacted him at his residence.</div> </div>