Khairatabad, an important Assembly constituency in Hyderabad, will have a three-way competition between the BRS, Congress, and BJP. Danam Nagender from BRS, P Vijaya Reddy from Congress, and Chintala Ramchandra Reddy from BJP are the main contenders. Khairatabad is a part of the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency and has a total of 282,101 voters, including 134,862 women. The constituency has a diverse population with migrants from Andhra Pradesh and a mix of both rich and slum dwellers.
There is an interesting contest for the Congress ticket in this Assembly election. Vijaya Reddy, the daughter of the late P Janardhan Reddy, a prominent leader of Congress, is likely to be fielded. However, her chances may be affected by her history of switching parties. She joined Congress last year after leaving TRS and contested from YSRCP in 2014. Another contender for the ticket is Rohin Reddy, the Khairatabad unit president.
Chintala Ramchandra Reddy, a former MLA and senior member of BJP, is expected to be given another chance to win back the seat. Despite competition from other party members like Pallapu Govardhan, analysts believe Reddy is the best option to defeat Nagender. In the 2014 election, Ramachandra defeated Nagender by over 20,000 votes and received 37.3% of the vote share.
In 2018, Nagender, who had joined TRS by then, secured the highest vote share of 44.56% and defeated Chintala by over 28,000 votes. Dasoju Sravan Kumar from Congress was the third candidate with 33,549 votes. Sravan later joined BRS and is set to become an MLC under the Governor’s quota.
Khairatabad constituency includes wealthy neighborhoods like Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Raj Bhavan Road, Punjagutta, Somajiguda, Lakdikapul, Himayatnagar, Hyderguda, and Narayanguda, in addition to Khairatabad itself.
