TRS Faces An Uphill Battle In Mancherial District  

Mancherial:  Mancherial, formerly a part of Adilabad district, has been accorded the status of a separate district after the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) came to power. It has some key constituencies including Mancherial formed in the delimitation exercise in 2008, with 2,30,013 voters. The  legislator in the recently dissolved  assembly, Nadipelli Diwakar Rao from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi is battling some anti-incumbency sentiment and it remains to be seen if he can take on the candidate put by the Mahakutami or Grand Alliance. It is learnt that a section of Singareni collieries workers are unhappy with him, while there have also been allegations of involvement in land-related issues. In the 2014 elections, Rao, contesting on a TRS ticket, had defeated the Congress candidate, G. Aravinda Reddy by 60,000 votes and had in the past been a two term Congress MLA. While it is being speculated that Kodandaram may contest from this constituency, this seems unlikely. In all likelihood, the Congress may zero in once again on G. Aravinda Reddy.

Bellampalli is an SC reserved constituency. Like Mancherial, it was formed in 2008, and has 1,56,920 voters. Durgam Chinnaiah, the TRS MLA in the recently dissolved House, is also battling anti-incumbency feeling in the land of the coal mines. He had defeated G. Mallesh of CPI in 2014. Revolutionary balladeer, Gaddar's son, Surya Kiran, is seeking a Congress ticket from here and may prove to be a strong adversary to the TRS candidate.

Chennur constituency has been in the eye of a storm from the time that the Telangana chief minister, K. Chandrashekar Rao announced the list of 105 TRS candidates on September 6. Chennur, which was created as an independent constituency in 1962, has 1,70,249 voters. An SC reserved constituency, the TRS supremo, KCR allotted the party ticket this time around to the Peddapalli MP, Balka Suman sparking a major firestorm in the region. Nallala Odelu a three-time MLA, protested vehemently and one of his supporters, immolated himself against this perceived injustice to their leader. He later succumbed to his burns, deepening the controversy around the Chennur ticket. It has subsequently been reported that Odelu, after being pacified by the party leadership, has agreed to throw his weight behind Balka Suman. Boda Janardhan  and Venkatesh are the two major contenders for the Congress ticket.

Also Read: Telangana People Must Dethrone TRS: Kodandaram