Kollapur, a home to drought and neglect

Kollapur: This is the dead end of Mahbubnagar district. Fifty km south of Nagarkurnool, along a singlelane road that's minefield for drivers, it's the far end of a droughtscape.

Groundnut fields line the road with farmers scratching about in hope rather than confidence. The dry brush presents a scene familiar to all rainfed landscapes: a beautiful, ephemeral green for a month in the monsoon, but a dusty beige for rest of the year.

This was the seat of the Kollapur samsthan, builders of famed temples on the banks of the Krishna which flows by in the south. On the other side lies the outer fringe of the Nallamala, home once to the Maoists.

They aren't there any more, but the conditions that drew them thither haven't changed: no rain, no water, no irrigation, no government response.

It's the kind of situation that makes people say the samsthan days were better.

Standing at the Rajavari Kota in the heart of town, a young man says, 'Dynastic rule ended decades ago but we are no better off now. My grandfather used to say things were happier in the days of the samsthan.' The lament is the same everywhere.

In a small constituency of 2.5 lakh, most of whom are dependent on farming, agriculture has been in the dumps for 10 years now. The drought is severe this year and the lack of any irrigation infrastructure cuts deep.

Working in a groundnut patch that has no hope returning investment, old Balavva of Satapur village in Pedda Kothapalli mandal, says, 'I remember struggling for water every day when I was 15. I'm 70 and I still struggle for a pot of water. I have no hope it will be solved before I'm gone.'

Jalayagnam raised hopes, but all it did was to change the name of the Kalvakurthi Ethipothala Pathakam, a promise of many decades, to the Mahathma Gandhi Lift Irrigation Scheme (MGLIS).

There hasn't been a trickle from that promise. In meantime, elections came and went. We are in another season now. The bypoll for March 18 is different only that it is result of a politician turf war and turning to Telangana separatism as an outflanking maneouvre. In performing it, Jupally shed Congress clothes and donned pink.

Now as a TRS candidate, he hopes to score over DK Aruna, his rival for primacy and an important minister. People say business rivalry rather than politics is at centre of tussle. Posing now as a martyr to Telangana, Jupally is finding purchase in the so-called sentiment, which is quite strong here.

But the venomous rhetoric he spewed against KCR when he was a Congress minister is still remembered in Telangana circles and local JAC has been rather cool to his candidacy.

Further, he is also remembered for having flirted with Jagan Mohan camp. Asking these voters to choose between Telangana and development is like asking them to choose between food and water, and so voters are likely to say they want both.

Says Potla Narayana of Ellur, 'Development is of importance though everyone wants a Telangana state.' Now what does that mean? It is that while Telangana support will likely accrue to Jupally, it will be grumbling.

Minority leader Shaik tells us why. 'We elected Krishna Rao three times but he did nothing. So why should we want him, even if we want Telangana?'