Jubilee Hills locality in Hyderabad has always been in the news for its exorbitant real estate prices. It even finds a place in a Telugu film song. The actor prays to god to grant him a bungalow in the area, known to be the residential address of the uber-rich, upscale eateries and pubs. In the run-up to the Telangana assembly elections, Jubilee Hills is once again being discussed, but for a different reason. The Congress recently announced that it is fielding former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin from the Jubilee Hills constituency.
Azharuddin has been under pressure for some time as he suffered a few humiliating defeats, after his victory in Moradabad parliament seat in Uttar Pradesh in 2009. He faced electoral defeat in Tonk-Sawai Madhopur Lok Sabha constituency in 2014. He contested and won as president of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) in 2019. However, internal tiffs led to court cases and Azharuddin’s name was omitted from the voters list of the very club he served as the president.
Jubilee Hills seat is very much contrary to its image as a plush locality. The core Jubilee Hills residential and commercial areas do not fall under the limits of the constituency. Seventy per cent of the constituency is slums and low-income colonies. The constituency also has a high crime rate. Azharuddin may have been a world class player enjoying celebrity status, but when it comes to his constituency, his legwork seems to be very poor. The constituents are yet to even accept him as their potential representative.
“I saw him on television. I have never seen him nor heard about any of his work here. People will be willing to vote for only those who have some connection with them and are easily approachable. As of now, we do not think he fits in as our MLA,” said Y. Manoj, a resident in the area who runs a hardware shop.
The constituency has around 3.7 lakh voters, and roughly, 33 per cent of them are from Muslim community. This seems to be one of the factors that worked in Azharuddin's favour when the Congress was drawing up the list of candidates. However, with India Majlis Ittehad ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) around, it won't be easy for the Congress and Azharuddin to woo Muslim voters. Though AIMIM is not in alliance with the Bharath Rashtra Samithi (BRS), it has been indirectly pitching for local BRS candidates where they do not have winnable candidates. Jubilee Hills is unique for the AIMIM. It does not fall under the category of constituencies where AIMIM won in the past, but it is also not a constituency that that party can ignore given the high percentage of minority votes there.
In 2014, AIMIM’s candidate Naveen Yadav came a close second to TDP candidate and current BRS MLA, Maganti Gopinath. AIMIM is yet to release the list of candidates and Naveen is once again hopeful of bagging a ticket and clinching the seat. “The present MLA (BRS) has been resorting to threats and unjust actions to harass locals who are not with his party. People are fed up with him. Azharuddin does not know anything about the constituency. The voters are from poor backgrounds, so how will they contact someone as elite as Azharuddin if he becomes the MLA? People are looking for a candidate who is known to them,” said Naveen Yadav who has been actively working on the ground despite consecutive losses. In case he does not get an AIMIM ticket, he wants to contest as an independent candidate.
Azharuddin’s challenges have been compounded by internal conflicts in the party over his ticket allocation. According to Congress sources, party president Revanth Reddy backed Azharuddin as he had a fallout with the previous candidate, P. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, a former MLA and son of popular Congress leader P. Janardhan Reddy. After the list was released with Azharuddin’s name in it, Vishnuvardhan Reddy joined the BRS in the presence of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. He is expected to influence the Congress cadre and his supporters to work for the ruling party and damage the grand old party's chances of winning. As it stands now, Azharuddin has to build his team from scratch and win over the local Congress cadre and voters to romp home victorious, all within 30 days.