Return of the BJP native

Full of hope: Musheerabad Assembly constituency BJP candidate K. Laxman at Indiranagar on Friday.

HYDERABAD: Sporting flashy shades, a spotless kurta-pyjama and equally clean sports shoes, Dr. K. Laxman gets down from his multi-purpose utility vehicle and grabs a drum from the performers. He tries his best to stay with the tempo of the ‘teen maar’. The party workers surrounding him are amused, but understand the stakes involved this time around.

A little ahead, Dr. Laxman meets a physically-challenged resident on a wheelchair.

Quite animated, he starts explaining about merits of his candidature. He jumps at every opportunity to criticise the previous TRS and Congress MLAs elected from Musheerabad constituency. There is a definite urgency in his campaigning style.

Perennial favourite

It’s quite understandable given the fact that it’s been a case of ‘so near yet so far’ for BJP’s Dr. K. Laxman in Musheerabad. Considered as a perennial favourite, Dr. Laxman lost twice, once to TRS candidate Nayani Narasimha Reddy by just 241 votes and recently to Manemma Anjaiah of Congress in the by elections.

In the both the elections, he emerged second best. In the hope of performing better, Dr. Laxman says he is concentrating in areas, where previous MLAs have performed well.

In those areas, Dr. Laxman uses every opportunity to criticise Congress candidate Manemma and TRS candidate Nayani Narasimha Reddy.

“Congress and TRS MLAs have cheated you. When I was your MLA, I worked hard to convert Indira Nagar into a model slum settlement. In contrast, now there are no civic amenities here,” he says to the locals of Bholakpur, which is considered to be a Congress stronghold.

This time, Musheerabad will have a three-dimesional fight between Congress, TRS and BJP.

“We are telling people not to vote for small parties like Lok Satta because they end up splitting the votes,” he says while campaigning at Bholakpur on Friday.

There have been no major changes in Musheerabad Assembly segment after the delimitation process and the constituency has over 2 lakh voters.