Not Telangana State, Suicide By Cotton Farmers Is The Main Issue

A surprising aspect of the current campaigning in the nine Telangana districts is that the demand for a separate Telangana state is not an issue.

The Congress had initiated the move for separation before the mid-term poll was announced while the Bharatiya Janata Party gave it a definite shape by promising it in its manifesto.

But none of these parties have so far raised the issue in their campaigning, perhaps indicating that the demand has no popular backing.

The major issue this time is suicide by cotton farmers. As many as 178 suicides have been reported so far, more than half of them in the Warangal district alone.

 

Issues like basic needs like water, both for drinking and irrigation, high prices of essentials, unemployment leading to migration of farm labour to neighbouring states, continue to bother the electorate.

With few irrigation sources, farmers in the region depend on underground water, but erratic power supply and the move for a steep upward revision in the tariff are matters of concern.Unlike earlier elections when the fight was between the Congress and the Telugu Desam, the BJPs presence is felt very effectively in the region this time.

The saffron party has penetrated deep into the rural areas and has a ready response from voters who seem disappointed with parties they had voted for in the past.

More importantly, it is only the BJP candidates and activists who dare go deep into the naxal areas of the region with their campaigning, while both Telugu Desam and Congress play it safe, preferring to stay away from troubled areas. This has also led to the suspicion that the BJP and the naxals have some sort of an understanding. Four of the nine districts are naxal-affected.

Fifteen constituencies in Telangana and six in the northern coastal Andhra will go to poll in the second phase on Sunday. Involved in the election is the fate of two Union ministers, two former Union ministers, the state Congress chief and one former Chief Minister.

S Jaipal Reddy, Union minister for information and broadcasting and spokesman of the United Front, is pitted against state Congress chief S Mallikarjun, who is trying to retain his seat in Mahbubnagar.

The wheel symbol finds a place on the ballot paper in this constituency after almost a decade. And Jaipal Reddy has difficulty in explaining to the voters that it is his symbol and should be stamped.

Mallikarjun, finds the going easy, having nursed the constituency in the past with rail gauge conversion as the Union railway minister.

The BJP is fielding Oman-based businessman A P Jitender Reddy who spends 15 days in India and 15 in the Gulf.

Reddy maintains that having been away for 20 years, he is pained at the backwardness of the district, and would like to do something now. He has promised an investment of Rs 150 crore that would trigger off economic activity and generate large scale employment.

In Karimnagar, BJP candidate Vidyasagar Rao, is the only candidate to have daringly canvassed for votes in risky areas like Sircilla, Jagtial and Metpalli.

This has given the BJP a considerable edge over former AICC general secretary M Satyanarayana Rao and the Congress candidate, and L Ramana of the Telugu Desam.

Nizamabad, another naxal-infested constituency where seven PWG activists were gunned down earlier this month in an encounter, presents an equally interesting scenario.

An NRI, Atmacharan Reddy, who represented the constituency in the dissolved Lok Sabha, quit Congress to become the BJP candidate on being denied a ticket.

He is facing a formidable opponent in Ganga Reddy of the Telugu Desam who is loved by the electorate for the good work he had done.

Congress candidate K Keshav Rao, considered an outsider, comes a poor third. His last minute effort in persuading Sonia Gandhi to address a meeting today may not cut much ice with the determined voters.

Surprisingly, Adilabad, the northernmost tip of Telangana where Union minister S Venugopalachari is the Telugu Desam candidate, does not face serious problems from the PWG this time.He is involved in a keen contest with Congress candidate Indirakaran Reddy.

The outcome in Warangal and Hanamakonda, located in the cotton belt of Telangana, will reflect the mood of the farmers. Former minister Kamaluddin Ahmed is pitted against Suresh Reddy of the Telugu Desam while the BJP has left the seat for NTR-TDP which has no following.

Former Union minister G Venkat Swamy trying to retain his Peddapalli seat and N Bhaskara Rao, former Chief Minister, contesting the Khammam seat against a Left nominee make up the rest of the scenario in Telangana.