Danam Nagender reaffirms Congress loyalty, fuels speculation of Khairatabad bypoll

Unlike other turncoat legislators of the BRS, Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender has asserted that he is with the Congress and will soon participate in the party’s campaign for the Hyderabad civic polls. His statement has triggered speculation that a bypoll for the Khairatabad seat may be imminent.

Nagender is the only MLA who ignored the notices issued by the Telangana Speaker to appear before him in connection with the disqualification petition filed by the BRS. Since Nagender contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket without resigning as a BRS legislator, there is little room left for political manoeuvring, unlike in the case of the other nine turncoat MLAs.

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When questioned about his political allegiance on Tuesday, Danam Nagender reiterated that he was in the Congress. “I don’t know which party the other MLAs are in, but I am clearly in the Congress,” he said. The other nine MLAs have claimed that they are still with the BRS and had met the Chief Minister to discuss the development of their constituencies.

However, Nagender, a six-time legislator, also remarked, “Whichever party I am in, that party will win. I will always have the blessings of the people.” Considered an approachable public representative, he enjoys considerable popularity in his constituency, although he lost in 2014 after the BJP and TDP joined hands.

Nagender expressed confidence that in the upcoming Hyderabad civic polls, the Congress, along with the AIMIM, would secure a majority. The Congress has traditionally been on a weak electoral footing in Hyderabad city. Not only did it fail to win a single seat in the 2023 Assembly elections, but it also won only two wards in the previous civic polls.

However, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has expanded the GHMC limits to cover 300 wards, bringing in areas where the party is electorally stronger to compensate for its weak base in the city. Moreover, the party has won two bypolls so far—Secunderabad and Jubilee Hills—indicating its growing strength in Hyderabad as the ruling party.

Danam Nagender also promised to campaign for the Congress in all 300 wards of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), highlighting the welfare schemes introduced by the Congress government.