Monday, Apr 21, 2014

Key contestants / Lok Sabha

• Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy, known for changing constituency in every election, is contesting from Mahbubnagar this time. He was elected from Chevella in 2004 and from Miryalaguda in 1999.

• Telangana Rashtra Samiti President K Chandrasekhar Rao is in the fray from Medak Lok Sabha constituency. He was likely to move to Delhi if his party fails to form the government in Telangana state.

• Former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya is once again trying his luck from Secunderabad after losing the seat in the last two elections to Anjan Kumar Yadav of Congress. He was elected in 1999 and became minister of state for railways in Vajpaee cabinet.

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• Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi is fighting to retain the prestigious Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat for the third consecutive term. The seat is with MIM for the past thirty years. His father Salahuddin Owaisi had won the seat in six consecutive elections from 1984. This time he is pitted against Sama Krishna Reddy of Congress and Bhagwant Rao of BJP, both light weights.

Key Elections / Assembly Elections

• Telugu Desam President Nara Chandrababu Naidu will once again contest from Kuappam constituency in Chittoor district. TDP has lost considerable ground in home district of Naidu over the last decade. Recently it suffered a big jolt when its district unit chief quit and joined YSR Congress.

• YSR Congress party President YS Jaganmohan Reddy is for the first time contesting assembly election from family pocket borough Pulivendula in Kadapa district. After the death of his father former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy in September 2009, his mother Vijayalakshmi had represented the constituency. He too is an aspirant of Chief Minister’s chair of Andhra Pradesh.

• Popular Telugu film star Nandamuri Balakrishna will be TDP candidate from Hindupur assembly constituency in Anantapur district. The area is a TDP fortress ever since the party was launched in 1982. In 1989, it had elected NT Rama Rao. Balakrishna is the son of NTR and brother in law of Chandrababu Naidu. At one stage NTR had declared Balakrishna as his political heir but had to drop the idea under protest from his two ambitious sons in law Chandrababu Naidu and Daggubati Venkateshwara Rao.

• Ponnala Lakshmiaha, Telangana Congress President and an aspirant for the CM’s post in Telangana is contesting from Janagam in Warangal district.

• Film star Vijaya Shanti is in the fray from Medak assembly constituency as Congress candidate. She was elected to Lok Sabha in last elections as TRS candidate and earlier she was with the BJP.

• K Shankaramma is the TRS candidate from Huzurnagar in Nalgonda district. She is the mother of Srikant Chary, one of the estimated 900 youth and students who committed suicide over a period of six years in support of Telangana state.

Key issues :

Free sops, Caste and Development are the major issues in the elections both in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Telangana:

• All the major parties - TRS, Congress and TDP-BJP alliance were laying emphasis on the development of new state of Telangana. While TRS was promising “re-construction” of Telangana after decades of “negelect and exploitation by Andhra Parties”, Congress too was talking of making Telangana the most developed state in the country. TDP-BJP alliance on the other hand was banking on the past record of “development and good governance” of N Chandrababu Naidu from 1995 to 2004.

• TRS has raised the issues of the share of local people in the government jobs and admissions to the higher educational institutions as well as the irrigation projects. It wants that all the government employees of Seemandhra origins should go move back from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation on June 2. It also wants admission to higher educational institutions in Telangana to be limited only to Telangana state. It was also demanding national status for Pranahita-Chevella irrigation project and opposing the present design of Polavaram project of Andhra Pradesh.

• Caste has also become a crucial factor as backward classes constitute a majority of Telangana people. In a master stroke Telugu Desam has promised to make a backward class leader the first Chief Minister of Telangana. TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao, whose Velama caste has less 2% population, has gone back on his promise of making a Dalit the first Chief Minister and was aspiring to become the Chief Minister. Congress was traditionally dominated by the upper caste Reddys who constitute 5% of the population. The party was witnessing a tug of war between the Reddys and the BCs.

• All the major parties have showered promises of free sops on all sections. TDP has promised waiving off loans of farmers, free housing for the poor and free education from KG to PG, free mobiles to women for their security.

• TRS promised 12% reservations to Muslims, up from the present 4%, crop loan waiver, increase of salaries of Telangana employees to the level of central government employees.

Andhra Pradesh

• Issue of development and corruption dominates the campaign in the region as Telugu Desam was projecting itself backed by the BJP as most suitable to ensure development of Seemandhra after the bifurcation. Naidu’s focus was specially on building a new capital for the state. Citing the example of how he brought Hyderabad on the world map, Naidu claims he was the most suitable leader to build a world-class capital city, better than even Hyderabad.

• With YSR Congress emerging as the main rival, Telugu Desam was targeting YS Jaganmohan Reddy on the issue of corruption. Jagan, whose name figures in several cases of corruption and spent 16 months in jail as an accused, is under constant attack.

• YSRCP on the other hand promised to implement all the welfare schemes introduced by his father late YS Rajasekhar Reddy including free electricity to the farmers, free medical care to the poor, reservation to the Muslim community, waiving off the loans of self help groups of women, market stabilization fund for farmers.

Snippets

* Konda Vishweshwara Reddy is the richest candidate in Telangana. Reddy, who is the TRS candidate from Chevella has declared assets of Rs 528 crore. He is an industrialist with stakes in several companies. His wife Sangeeta Reddy is the managing director of Apollo Hositals.

• Lagdapati Rajgopal the millionaire businessman famous for using pepper spray in Lok Sabha to stall passage of Telangana bill has renounced politics. He was elected from Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency in 2009 but was expelled along with five other MPs from Congress due to anti party activities.

• Retired bureaucrats have also entered the electoral fray this time. While retired IAS officer Ms Chhaya Ratan is Aam Admi Party’s candidate in Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, neighboring Malkajgiri has the retired Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy as the YSR Congress candidate.

• One question being hotly debated in Seemandhra is the role N Chandrababu Naidu going to play in the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. People were wondering whether Naidu to be content to be Chief Minister of a truncated Andhra Pradesh when he ruled the entire state as a strong Chief Minister for almost a decade. He has already announced that if TDP comes to power in Telangana, a backward class leader will head the government.

• The list of candidates of all parties has many kith and kin of leaders. But the Telangna Rashtra Samiti takes the cake. While party supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao is contesting from Medak Lok Sabha and Gajwel Assembly constituencies, his daughter K Kavita is in the fray in Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency. KCR’s son Taraka Rama Rao is seeking re-election from Sricilla assembly constituency in Karimnagar and nephew T Harish Rao is contesting from Siddipet assembly constituency in Medak district.

The BJP has fielded Nagam Janardhan Reddy from Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha constituency while his son Shashidhar Reddy is contesting from Nagarkurnool assembly constituency. MIM has two brothers Asaduddin Owaisi and Akbaruddin Owaisi contesting from Hyderabad Lok Sabha and Chandrayangutta Assembly constituency. Congress declared one family one ticket norm but did not follow it in all the cases. Working President of Telangana Congress committee Uttam Kumar Reddy and his wife both were contesting for assembly from different constituencies. K Rajagopal Reddy and his brother K Venkat Reddy were contesting for Lok Sabha and assembly respectively. R Damodar Reddy and R Venkat Reddy and A Ramnarayan Reddy and Anam Vivekananda Reddy also figure in the Congress list.

By Mohammad Siddique, Correspondent

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