Congress has edge over rivals in Nalgonda LS

HYDERABAD: With the Election Commission watching hawk-like, campaigning by candidates in the Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency is on a low key. Candidates are preferring door-to-door visits which they believe will work better than addressing public meetings.

A visit to the Assembly segments of the Lok Sabha constituency tells you that the days of carnival-like atmosphere are passe. In the past, elections were like a festival, villages and towns decorated with flags, festoons and buntings. Autorickshaws used to criss-cross the roads blaring songs and supporters shouting the election promises of candidates.

In the relative stillness, Congress nominee Gutta Sukhender Reddy is confident that he will win the seat by a margin of nearly two lakh votes. He does not rule out youth showing interest in Narendra Modi but since there is no BJP candidate he is confident that they will prefer him. The TDP is fielding Tera Chinappa Reddy

As regards the TRS candidate, Palla Rajeswara Reddy, no one knows who he is, he says. 'I am confident of my victory because I am a people's man. I am always in Miryalaguda, available to them. That itself is enough to retain my seat.'

Sukhender Reddy's confidence stems from a survey he had commissioned which indicated that he was going to win the election hands down. 'I have not an iota of doubt about my victory,' he says.

What he says may be true since there is no BJP candidate to throw a spanner in his works but Sukhender Reddy should watch out for youth who would be about 6,000 to 8,000 in each Assembly segment to upset calculations. But Sukhender Reddy offers a different argument.

'A voter who votes for the Congress in the Assembly poll would not vote for BJP in the Lok Sabha poll. Since my constituency is predominantly pro-Congress, there is no question of cross-voting,' Sukhender Reddy says.

Another interesting development is the TRS is gaining strength in the constituency. Till now, TRS has had no presence anywhere in the seven Assembly segments.

For instance, in Huzurnagar Assembly constituency there appears to be some support for the TRS candidate Shankaramma, mother of Srikanthachary who set himself on fire and died after the arrest of TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao while he was on his way to begin his fast in 2009.

But the fact remains that people have more or less made up their mind. Chat up with a 22-year-old school bus driver Tarithala Srikanth and you will know that you would have to talk to one for more than half an hour to know his mind.

Initially, Srikanth held sitting MLA N Uttam Kumar Reddy in high esteem. But, finally, he opened up saying that he wanted to vote for the 'car' symbol. 'I want TRS to come to power in the state so that we may have a better life,' he says.

Incidentally, Huzurnagar is one place where TRS influence is almost nil. A fast food centre owner Pallapu Mahesh, while mixing flour with pieces of onions to make pakoda, too wants TRS to come to power as he wants a bright future for his children, though he is not yet married.

'I will have to marry in future,.' he says blushing. Asked if Shankaramma would get votes enough to win, he is doubtful. 'I do not know, sir. This area is not known for TRS though the crowd that turned up at KCR's meeting recently was quite huge.'

Interestingly, they all wanted Narendra Modi to come to power at the Centre. 'He will develop India the way he developed Gujarat. I would have voted for BJP but since there is no BJP candidate for Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat, I will vote for the TDP candidate,' he says.

'A dark horse that is emerging in Huzurnagar is YSRC's G Srikanth Reddy,' says Amar, a wine shop owner. A drive further down to the business centre Kodad, there is a strong undercurrent against Congress, both at the Centre and in the State.

'Congress is not strong here. The Assembly ticket was given to Uttam Kumar Reddy's wife N Padmavathy but she is not in the reckoning,' says 27-year-old motor rewinding shop owner T Satyanarayana.

'I would like to support the TDP because a vote for TDP is a vote for Narendra Modi. Further, the TDP is strong here,' he says. The TDP is fielding Bollam Mallaiah Yadav, who is popular. His friends who came to his shop to chat with him too were chanting the Modi mantra.

In Suryapet, a retired 85-year-old Army Hawaldar TR Rajkumar Reddy, who was sitting in a restaurant said on prodding that he wished that the Congress should go at the Centre.

'My vote is for TDP as there is no BJP. No one has any sympathy for local MLA R Damodar Reddy. There is no development. Just go inside the old bus station,' he says.

At the end of the day across the constituency, the impression that the youth are looking up to Modi hoping for a better deal. Listen to what G Linga Reddy, who completed MSc (Chemistry) from Kakatiya University, says at Tipparthi:

'For Assembly we will vote for Komatireddy saar. But for Lok Sabha, we will vote for TDP so that Modi will come to power.' It looked odd that a Congress voter should vote for the TDP but that is what he said.