Know Your MLA: His goal is to make Nizamabad a global city

Nizamabad: A 64-year graduate, Dhanpal Suryanarayana won as the BJP candidate from the Nizamabad Urban (General) constituency in the 2023 Assembly elections.

Suryanarayana is a native of Nizamabad. He did his BCom in 1979 at Mandhumalancha Degree College, Bodhan, affiliated with Osmania University.

He polled 75,240 votes and defeated his nearest rival, Mohammed Ali Shabbir of the Indian National Congress by a margin of 15,387 votes. Suryanarayana has won in his second time contesting from the Nizamabad Urban on the saffron party ticket in a triangular contest. His emergence was a major gain to the BJP during the earlier municipal elections, at a time when the BJP won 28 divisions in the municipal elections. However, the AIMIM, BRS and Congress won 19, 11 and 2 divisions respectively. Of the three, the BRS and MIM had joined hands preventing the BJP from heading the corporation paving the way for the BRS candidate to head the Nizamabad Municipal Corporation.

A prominent businessman in the city, Suryanarayana had proclaimed himself as a Hindu nationalist. In an intense election campaign, Suryanarayana, confident of Hindu votes, challenged his opponents who were outsiders fielded by the opposition BRS and Congress and eventually emerged victorious.

Suryanarayana vows to develop Nizambad, a melting pot of people from across the country and one of the major business and trade centres, into a global city.