After losing in the 2018 Assembly Elections, Revanth Reddy contested from the Malkajgiri constituency. He also won the seat with a majority of over 10900 votes.
Political analysts opined that despite being the MP, Revanth failed to establish a strong foothold in the assembly constituencies within Malkajgiri. As a result, the Congress party failed to win a single MLA seat from this Lok Sabha constituency in the last assembly elections.
For the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, BJP named prominent leader Etela Rajender as its candidate. On the other side, BRS selected Ragidi Laxma Reddy as its contestant.
Although Etela is not a local candidate, his track record as an MLA and his popularity within the state make him a formidable competitor in the race.
On the other side, BRS’s Ragidi Laxma Reddy enjoys local support. Also, BRS won all seven constituencies in the last assembly elections, proving the ground-level strength of the party.
Revanth needed someone strong to tackle the BJP’s star leader and BRS’s ground-level strength. However, he chose Patnam Suneetha Reddy as his candidate.
Initially, it was assumed that local leader Mynampally Hanumantha Rao would secure the ticket. But as he was disinterested in contesting the elections, the party decided to give the ticket to its new entrant, Patnam Suneetha Reddy, who hails from Chevella Lok Sabha constituency.
Though it has not been announced officially, it is evident that Patnam Suneetha Reddy will be the parliament candidate from Congress for Malkajgiri.
Analysts opined that Suneetha is a non-local and not a star politician as well. On top of that, Congres also doesn’t enjoy a huge ground-level strength in the constituency. So, it would be tough for the party to handle BJP and BRS in Malkajgiri.
