BJP Eyes Naidu-Pawan Duo For Jubilee Hills Campaign

The political temperature is rising in the Jubilee Hills by-election as the BJP considers bringing Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan into the campaign to boost its prospects.

The high-stakes contest has three prominent candidates - Congress nominee Naveen Yadav, BRS candidate Maganti Sunitha (wife of former MLA Maganti Gopinath) and the BJP's Deepak Reddy. With the Congress and BRS already in full swing in the campaigning, the BJP is now looking to infuse fresh energy into its campaign by leveraging the star power of its Andhra allies.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has taken the Jubilee Hills contest as a prestige issue, personally leading the campaign for the Congress candidate. Ministers and party leaders are conducting door-to-door outreach across the constituency. Likewise, BRS working president K T Rama Rao has assumed complete responsibility for ensuring Sunitha's victory and has intensified his ground campaign.

In this backdrop, the BJP is exploring a strategic move to rope in Naidu and Kalyan, who head the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Jana Sena Party (JSP) respectively. Both leaders are alliance partners of the BJP in Andhra Pradesh and key members of the ruling coalition there. Party sources say discussions are underway on whether to send a delegation to Amaravathi to invite them personally or to route the request through BJP national president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The constituency's voter demographics are seen as the driving factor behind this plan. Of the three lakh voters in Jubilee Hills, over 1.5 lakh are estimated to be from Seemandhra. Among them, the Kapu and Kamma communities hold significant influence, along with nearly 30,000 film industry professionals. Party estimates suggest that Kapu voters form the largest group after Muslims, while the Kamma community accounts for over 25,000 voters.

BJP leaders believe that campaign appearances by Naidu and Kalyan could decisively swing these voter segments in their favour. "If both leaders campaign here, the BJP's prospects will rise sharply," a senior party source said.

With polling scheduled for November 11 and campaigning set to conclude on November 9, the BJP is considering plans to hold roadshows and corner meetings featuring Naidu and Kalyan in the final days. Party insiders say such events could energise the electorate and give Deepak Reddy the much-needed edge in what is shaping up to be a high-voltage three-way battle in Jubilee Hills.

However, some political observers caution that it may be difficult for the two Andhra leaders to spare time for a single constituency campaign.