Sangareddy, July 31: Much effort went into Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader T Harish Rao’s victory by 95,000 votes in Siddipet.
Ever since he quit the Assembly along with other TRS legislators, Harish Rao had set his eyes on surpassing former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s record of a 65,000-vote majority.
Harish Rao knew pretty well he would win the seat as the Telangana sentiment was strong. But he was not happy with just winning. He wanted to create a record. His aim was to cross the 80,000 mark but voters in Siddipet gave him a bonus today.
He toured the constituency extensively, visited every village and requested people to give him both “notes and votes”.
In 45 villages, gram sabhas passed a single-sentence resolution stating that the entire electorate in the villages would vote for Harish Rao. He interacted with people many times and emphasised that any laxity on their part to support TRS would mean diluting the cause of Telangana.
The efforts by Harish Rao can be gauged from the fact that he toured the entire constituency once even before the publication of the election notification.
In 2009 elections, with the support of the TDP, he secured a majority of about 65,000 votes and now without any truck with other political parties, he managed a 95,000-vote majority.
During his hectic campaign schedule, Harish Rao could not visit one village. On the last day of electioneering, he went to the village, met the elders and apologised to them for not visiting them before. The village heads responded positively.
Another factor that helped Harish Rao win was his accessibility to the people. He has always been available to people and responded to their problems promptly. He could secure more funds for the development of the constituency. In other words, Harish Rao is the king of the constituency.
–Agencies