Hyderabad, July 25: Telangana Rashtra Samiti appears to be in a strong position to retain all 10 of the 12 seats in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh where bypolls will be held on Tuesday. The ”Telangana sentiment” continues to give an edge to TRS while the Congress” development mantra, coupled with the claim that it alone could ultimately deliver statehood for the region appears to have not cut any ice with the electorate.
The agitation on the Babhli barrage issue has done little to improve the prospects of principal opposition Telugu Desam Party. The ruling Congress and the TRS have a 50-50 chance in the remaining two segments.
Since more than 64 candidates are in fray, ballot papers are being used in five Assembly segments of Yellareddy, Korutla, Siricilla, Huzurabad and Warangal West. Electronic Voting Machines will be used in the remaining seven segments.
In all 435 candidates are in the fray in all the 12 segments. Counting of votes will take place on 30th.
All eyes, however, are on the Nizamabad Urban Assembly segment where Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Dharmapuri Srinivas, who tasted a bitter defeat in the 2009 general elections, is desperately seeking a win over his Bharatiya Janata Party rival Y Lakshminarayana. “I will get to occupy the highest position in the state politics if elected as an MLA. Also, I will get your dream of a separate Telangana state come true if elected,” Srinivas has been repeatedly claiming during his campaign.
Nizamabad Urban segment has a large chunk of Muslim voters numbering around 75,000 who stayed away from polling in 2009 dealing a blow to Srinivas as BJP candidate Lakshminarayana romped home with a comfortable majority of 11,015 votes. This time, however, Srinivas has held a series of meetings with various communities, including Muslims, pleading with them to elect him to the legislature.
The BJP candidate is banking on the Telangana sentiment and the “sympathy” factor over his resignation for the statehood cause in February. The TRS is keen to wreck the PCC chief”s victory chances in Nizamabad Urban as much as the Congress is seeking to defeat TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao”s son K T Rama Rao in Siricilla constituency.
Rama Rao scraped through a multi-cornered contest in 2009 by a margin of 171 votes. It was a TRS rebel candidate K K Mahender Reddy who gave Rama Rao a run for his money.
Now, Mahender is the Congress candidate in Siricilla but the political scene has undergone a lot of change in the last one year. Rama Rao, a rank “outsider” in Siricilla in 2009, built his base since his election for the first time as an MLA, edging out Mahender Reddy.
——–PTI