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Telangana polls: Tough battle for BJP’s Bandi Sanjay in Karimnagar
The talking point in the present elections is whether Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Bandi Sanjay would be able to break the jinx and win the seat
Karimnagar, a hotbed of Maoist movement till two decades ago, which later turned into a nerve centre of the movement for separate Telangana state, is one of the keenly watched constituencies in the assembly elections scheduled to be held on November 30.
It was in this historic town, once a capital city of Satavahana Dynasty, that then Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi had, in 2004, general elections, announced for the first time that her party would grant separate statehood to Telangana state.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS) president K Chandrashekar Rao, who shared the dais with Sonia Gandhi then, went on to become the chief minister of the country’s youngest state a decade later.
Nine and a half years down the line, there is neither Maoism nor Telangana sentiment in this politically conscious town of northern Telangana. The talking point in the present elections is whether Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Bandi Sanjay would be able to break the jinx and win the seat.
Karimnagar assembly segment has always been elusive for the BJP, while the Congress had won the seat five times since 1952, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) won four times and BRS twice. Even the Left parties and independents won the seat, but not the BJP.
Interestingly, Sanjay, who had lost to BRS candidate Gangula Kamalakar in the last two elections – in 2014 with a margin of 24,754 votes and in 2018 with a margin of 14,974 votes – had surprisingly bagged the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 general elections with a massive majority of 89,509 votes.
This time, Sanjay was reluctant to contest the assembly elections, but the BJP high command forced him to enter the fray with a promise that if he wins the seat, he stands the chance of becoming the chief minister as the party announced to make an OBC leader as the CM.
Though it is easier said than done, Sanjay took it up as a matter of prestige to win the seat, but is facing strong headwinds from the other two major contenders – Gangula Kamalakar from BRS and Purumalla Srinivas of the Congress. All the three contestants hail from Munnuru Kapu caste, a numerically strong OBC community, which accounts for 60,892 voters out of the total electorate of 340,000 voters.
“Needless to say, the Munnuru Kapu voters are equally divided among the three contenders. It is rather tough for Sanjay. He is banking on other OBC groups like Padmashalis and Mudirajs, to win the seat,” said Tadi Karunakar, a senior political analyst of Karimnagar town.
Another major factor that is going to play a crucial role in deciding the fate of the candidates in the present elections is Muslims, who are around 68,000 in strength. “They do not vote for Sanjay, but are divided between the Congress and the BRS. That is why, he is adopting an aggressive Hindutva approach to attract as many Hindu votes as possible,” Karunagar said.
People familiar with the matter said the majority of Muslims might tilt towards Congress candidate Purmulla Srinivas this time, as sitting BRS MLA Gangula Kamalakar has done little for them in the last two terms. “Moreover, there are allegations that he had encroached upon 14 acres of Wakf land and built his farmhouse on it. This has angered the local Muslims,” a local digital media journalist G Murali said.
Kamalakar, who had already won the seat thrice – first on TDP ticket in 2009 and later on BRS ticket in 2014 and 2018, is solely banking on the welfare schemes taken up by the KCR government.
“Kamalakar has a strong backing of KCR, who has in fact made Karimnagar his home town and constructed his own house there. Secondly, right from the beginning, Karimnagar has been dominated politically by the Velama community (to which KCR belongs), who had represented this constituency nine times in the past. Needless to say, the 40,000-strong Velama voters prefer to vote for the BRS,” Murali said.
Congress candidate Srinivas, who was a zilla parishad member from Karimnagar (rural), defected from the BRS only recently. Apart from his own Munnuru Kapu community, he is confident of getting the support from 22,000-strong Reddy voters, Muslims and Dalits.
He has been getting a lot of traction from urban youth in Karimnagar and he is extensively campaigning the six-guarantees announced by the Congress.
“There is a strong anti-incumbency against Kamalakar. If the voters want to give a chance to a new face, then the Congress has an advantage. But there is a sympathy factor working in favour of Sanjay, as he lost the seat twice in the past. So, it is a tricky situation,” a local fruit vendor M Mahender said.
