Nilam Madhu Mudiraj: Congress Aim To Muster Community Vote Bank (image:instagram.com/nilam_madhu_mudiraj)

The Congress party”s decision to field Nilam Madhu Mudiraj was a last minute call. By fielding him from Medak Lok Sabha Constituency, the party is strategically aiming to muster Backward Community (BC) vote bank.

Nilam Madhu started his political career with Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi). He began as a member of his native village, Chitkool, in Patancheru Assembly constituency, and then served as a Sarpanch.

When BRS denied Patancheru an assembly ticket, Nilam Madhu quit the party and joined Congress. Though he soon got the ticket, due to internal protests, the grand old party had to take back its offer. Then, he joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which contested the Patancheru assembly segment but lost. However, he was able to gather 46,000 votes, mostly from the Mudiraj community. He again joined Congress in February of this year. While contesting him from Medak, Congress hopes to bolster Mudiraj community votes in their favour.

Medak Lok Sabha constituency gained fame in political history when former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi won from the constituency in 1980. The parliamentary seat consists of six assembly segments, including Siddipet, Medak, Patancheru, Naraspur, Dubbak, Gajwel, and Sangaradeey. From 2004 onwards, the constituency has been voted in favour of BRS, and the BJP  won the seat only in 1999. In 2014, former Chief Minister KCR got elected from Medak.

Meanwhile, the BRS has given Lok Sabha seat to incumbent MLC P Venkatarami Reddy, and the BJP has fielded former MLA M Raghunandan Rao.