Lok Sabha elections: Khammam's three-way poll battle between Congress, BRS, BJP

Khammam (Telangana) [India], May 12 : Voting for all 17 seats in Telangana will take place on May 13 in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. This year, the Congress party has fielded Ramasahayam Raghuram Reddy as its candidate, while the sitting MP Nama Nageswara Rao has been nominated by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party, formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Tandra Vinod Rao.
The Khammam seat was dominated by the Congress till 2004. However, in the three subsequent Lok Sabha polls, the seat was won by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 2009, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) in 2014, and BRS in 2019.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BRS' Nama Nageswar Rao won the seat, bagging 5,67,459 votes. The runner-up was Renuka Chowdhury of the Congress, who secured 3,99, 397 votes. BJP's Devaki Vasudeva Rao came fourth with 20,488 votes.
In 2014, YSRCP's Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy defeated BRS' Nama Nageshwar Rao by a margin of nearly 12,000 votes. P Srinivasa Reddy received 4,21,957 votes (35.67 per cent). On the other hand, Nageshwar Rao secured 4,09,983 votes (34.66 per cent). In addition, K. Narayana from the Communist Party of India (CPI) garnered 1,87,653 votes and secured third position.
The Khammam Lok Sabha constituency consists of seven assembly seats, including Khammam, Palair, Madhira, Wyra, Sathupalli, Kothagudem, and Aswaraopeta.
On May 9, Congress candidate R Raghuram Reddy had called the BRS the "B-team of the BJP" and said that in his constituency, the main fight is between Congress and BRS.
"Right now we have all three parties in the fray--Congress, sitting MP from BRS and BJP. BJP will not be able to give us a fight. The fight is primarily between Congress and BRS," Raghuram had told ANI.
On the other hand, BRS' Nama Nageswara Rao blames BJP and Congress for dividing people. In an interview with ANI, the BRS candidate had said, "Hindus, Christians and Muslims used to live here with brotherhood... What is happening right now is not good for the country. Our leader KCR also says this, we ran the government peacefully. BJP and Congress are dividing people and this is not right..."
BJP's Vinod Rao Tandra, an entrepreneur, tried to woo voters over the developmental works done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While speaking with ANI, Tandra had said, "I feel that we could reach every village, every voter, every mother, every father in this constituency. I appeal to them to look at the developments, and PM Narendra Modi's governance... In the times of Covid, we helped so many other countries as well. I believe that we could tell people what we did in the past 10 years and what we can do in the next 27 years. My main target is to tell people that if I become their representative, then what can I do to improve their lifestyle as I feel that not much development has been done in the Khammam constituency."
The issue of development and basic facilities is definitely a hot topic in Khammam as over hundred of voters of Adivasi Nagar in the Kothagudem Assembly of Khammam have decided to boycott the elections over lack of roads and electricity in their colony.
The people say that they are boycotting the vote with a sad heart. But if the administration or the government assures them that the problems of roads, water and electricity will be solved in Aadivasi Nagar, then they will be ready to vote.
In Adivasi Nagar of Kothagudem (Prashant Nagar), there are more than 400 people in 70 families and more than 200 voters.
The BJP is contesting the Lok Sabha and the assembly elections in the state in alliance with its NDA partners--the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan's JanaSena Party.
The BJP will put up candidates in six Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly constituencies. The JanaSena will contest two Lok Sabha and 21 Assembly seats.
In the 2019 general election, BRS won nine seats, the BJP four, Congress three and AIMIM one seat.