Konda couple's obsession with Warangal East

Warangal: Even in the darkest days of their political career, it appears that Konda couple has an inseparable obsession with the Warangal East Assembly constituency. Their irresistible impulse for ascendancy in the East politics led them to part ways with the TRS a few years ago. Now, the Konda couple wants to make a comeback to East politics with a vengeance. At every given opportunity, the couple made it clear that they didn't lose their strength in the East constituency and were likely to return with a buzz.

It may be mentioned here that former minister Konda Surekha represented the East constituency after she was elected on TRS ticket in 2014. Thereafter, the seemingly unimpressive relationship between the Konda couple and the TRS leadership finally ended on a bitter note just before the 2018 Assembly elections. During her stint as the EAST MLA, Surekha had never got going with the then Mayor Nannapuneni Narender with both of them trying for ascendancy in Warangal. Kondas say that they were behind Narender's elevation to the Mayor post to which the latter never agreed.

After parting ways with the TRS, the Konda couple switched over to the Congress. In that election to the Assembly, Surekha chose to contest from Parkal constituency leaving her sitting seat, Warangal East, to Vaddiraj Ravichandra; however, both of them lost at the hustings.

Against this backdrop, Surekha's name resurfaced as one of the possible candidates for the Huzurabad by-pollwith the Congress think tank contemplating to field her. Even as the suspense over the candidature was continued, Surekha has come up with a rider to the party leadership. In case if it wants to field her in the by-election, the party should give an assurance that she would be fielded again in the 2023 elections, besides setting aside Warangal East seat to her husband and former MLC Konda Muralidhar Rao.

The Kondas camp argues that how would people believe and vote for Surekha if she was just a stopgap arrangement and has nothing to do with the Huzurabad politics. "Surekha should be given a chance to foster amenity with the local Congress cadres. Right now, the Congress has no strong local candidate to field from Huzurabad constituency. But assuring the Warangal East ticket to Konda Murali could be a tricky decision for the Congress leadership," a senior Congress leader told The Hans India.