On entering Kamareddy town, it feels as though Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is personally welcoming you―the cutouts are everywhere. A campaign van in BRS pink zooms past, blasting a party song. KCR, evidently the most popular politician in Telangana, is contesting from Kamareddy for the first time; his other seat is his traditional constituency of Gajwel.
On the terrace of an unassuming house in Kamareddy’s NGOs Colony is a beedi-rolling unit. Thousands across the constituency work in the sector. “This occupation affects our health,” said Rajeshwari, head of the women-only unit. “Almost all of us have severe back pain, difficulty moving our fingers and breathing issues.”
But that is not the most serious problem the women are facing. In almost every household here, there is a rift between the young and the old. “These people are happily lapping up Rs2,000 pension and trading it for our precious youth,” said her daughter, Shruthi, pointing at the women. The BRS government gives a monthly pension to beedi workers, the elderly and the handicapped, which has in turn given the party a reliable vote bank.
“I have three children who are unemployed and are waiting to get married,” said Varalakshmi, another beedi worker. “It is fine if the government wants to scrap the pension scheme. Take back Rs2,000, but give our youngsters jobs.”
The youth, especially in rural districts, have started a campaign within households, telling people that the KCR government was giving pensions to elders in lieu of jobs for youth to reduce government expenditure.
Telangana Congress president A. Revanth Reddy, who is taking on KCR in Kamareddy, would hope to capitalise on this sense of anti-incumbency. The Congress’s machinery is at work to also rope in disgruntled elements and snatch the seat from the BRS. Revanth is also contesting from his traditional seat of Kodangal.
The maximum noise in the constituency, however, is coming from the camp of the BJP candidate, Venkata Ramana Reddy. We stopped by his house, which resembled a mini-resort with lawns and an open lounge area for visitors. Among the stream of visitors were men with skullcaps. Ramana Reddy, who has an edge as a local, is popular across all communities.
“I have not planned any special strategy just because KCR or Revanth have got tickets from here. It is all social media hype,” said Reddy. He has released a personal manifesto which promises free medical treatment and farmer welfare programmes, which could cost him Rs150 crore. “The people you see in BRS and Congress meetings are the same set of people,” he said. “They might attend these meetings, but will ultimately vote for me.”
The adjoining constituency of Sircilla is also in the spotlight. State IT Minister and BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao is the sitting MLA, and his work shows. There are open-air gyms, clean roads, and pretty installations at crossroads. However, all is not hunky-dory for the chief minister’s son, as a section of the Padmashalis (weavers’ community) is unhappy with the government.
The region is known for its power looms, and we visited one. Two weavers came out to talk. “There is nobody to voice our concerns,” said 53-year-old A. Tirupathi, who has been a power loom worker and weaver for two decades. Like him, many of the constituents complain that KTR is not accessible. “I have not still been given a 2bhk house for the poor as promised,” he said. “I am just introspecting on whether my life improved after we got Telangana.”
The ruling party is also feeling the heat from another section of voters―Gulf returnees. According to some estimates, there are close to 20 lakh people from Telangana working in the Gulf, a lot from the northern part of the state, and most often under stressful conditions. J. Madhu, who has worked in Saudi Arabia for 18 years and represents the Gulf workers, has filed his nomination to take on KTR. He is an independent. “Before KCR became chief minister, he promised a welfare board with Rs500 crore for Gulf workers. But, even today, if any of our workers die in the Gulf countries, we pool in money and bring their body back. I am going to every village and creating awareness on how this government has neglected us.”
The Congress candidate K.K. Mahender Reddy is one of the favourites here, but the BJP’s Rani Rudrama is also making waves with her articulate and fiery speeches. We saw her in action at Almaspur. At the village centre, her convoy of half a dozen vehicles came to a halt. An intoxicated man came in front of her open-top van and got emotional about his problems while the villagers broke into laughter. Rudrama took the mic and tried to pacify him. “Vote for the lotus, and I promise your problems will be addressed,” she said, before criticising the BRS at length.
The most exciting battle this election, arguably, is in Gajwel. Here, KCR will take on former associate and now BJP strongman Eatala Rajender. Gajwel seems to have flourished under KCR; well-laid roads, integrated government complexes and institutions stand out. KCR has won the seat twice, but it will not be easy this time. Rajender is a mass leader from the Mudiraj (fishermen) community, which has close to 50,000 votes. This is Rajender’s second seat; he is comfortably placed in his traditional constituency of Huzurabad.
“There is a leader for the Mudiraj community in every mandal, and we are closely working with them,” said BJP leader Shankar Mudiraj, who is also the secretary of the Mana Mudiraj Mahasabha. “I have personally addressed meetings in 25 to 30 villages where Mudiraj members dominate the population. Our aim is to ensure that the entire Mudiraj vote bank supports Rajender.”
There is another group of people working for Rajender―around 200 Osmania University students are camping in Gajwel to campaign for him. “When we were arrested during the Telangana agitation, it was Rajender who spent his own money and bailed us out,” said Dr Nehru Naik, founder-member of the Osmania University Joint Action Committee. “What did KCR and his family do except for buying farmhouses and occupying powerful posts?”