The second list of 45 Congress candidates for the Telangana elections has brought about some surprises. TPCC Working President Azharuddin has been allocated the Jubilee Hills seat, where the Muslim minority holds a majority of the votes.
This decision disappointed Vishnu, the son of the late PJR, a former MLA, who had hoped to contest from this seat. In the same list, Vishnu’s sister, Vijaya Reddy, was granted the Khairatabad ticket.
P. Janardhan Reddy (PJR) was a prominent Congress leader in the pre-Telangana state division era. He served as the opposition leader in the Assembly when NTR’s Telugu Desam Party triumphed in the 1994 state elections. However, PJR’s political influence in Hyderabad waned gradually after YSR became Chief Minister.
Notably, PJR had maintained cordial relations with the underprivileged community in the Jubilee Hills constituency, even though Khairatabad was a separate segment following delimitation.
Following PJR’s passing, both his son and daughter have been vying for his political legacy. P. Vishnuvardhan Reddy entered politics after the sudden demise of his father, MLA P. Janardhana Reddy.
He contested a by-election in 2004 as a Congress candidate in the Khairatabad Legislative Assembly constituency, winning with a substantial majority and entering the Assembly for the first time. He contested the assembly elections in 2009 and secured a second term as an MLA.
Vijaya Reddy made an attempt to secure a Congress ticket but eventually joined the BRS party. However, she received no support from BRS leaders, and her efforts to secure corporators for her followers during the GHMC elections were unsuccessful.
Frustrated with the BRS’s attitude, Vijaya Reddy returned to the Congress. Both siblings have been seeking Congress tickets for Jubilee Hills and Khairatabad. Ultimately, Vijaya Reddy succeeded in securing the ticket, while her brother did not.
