The Jubilee Hills by-election will be held on November 11. Maganti Sunitha, wife of the late Maganti Gopinath, is contesting as the BRS candidate, while Naveen Yadav represents the Congress.
BRS is banking on the sympathy wave following the death of its sitting MLA. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, however, is determined to secure the seat for Congress and prove his political dominance in Hyderabad.
Congress expects its position in power to work to its advantage, while BRS hopes anti-incumbency sentiment will turn the tide. A win here would mark the beginning of BRS’s political revival and deal a symbolic blow to Revanth Reddy’s leadership.
On Monday, when asked about her stand on the by-election, Kalvakuntla Kavitha said she is yet to decide. It’s clear she will not field a candidate, and openly supporting anyone seems unlikely. Even if she does, her endorsement carries little influence in this contest, which is firmly between Congress and BRS.
Kavitha’s frequent anti-BRS remarks already reveal her position. Recently, she accused the party of failing Telangana statehood agitators — a statement that strikes at the core of BRS’s identity. Through her “Jagruthi Janam Bata” tours, Kavitha appears to be rebuilding her relevance, but her impact in Telangana politics remains limited.
For now, she poses more of a challenge to KCR and the BRS than to any rival party.
The Jubilee Hills by-election results will be announced on November 14. This will be Telangana’s second by-election after the 2023 Assembly polls, where Congress won the Secunderabad Cantonment seat another BRS stronghold. It remains to be seen whether BRS can avoid a repeat of that outcome this time.
