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TRS-Rajender gear up for Huzurabad bypolls as EC announces date
Now that Rajender joined the BJP, the ruling TRS is pulling out all stops to retain its hold on Huzurabad by winning the Huzurabad by-poll.
Battles lines are drawn for the bypolls in Huzurabad assembly constituency in Telangana’s Karimnagar after the Election Commission announced the schedule for three Lok Sabha and 30 assembly seat elections across India on Tuesday.
The by-election, scheduled for October 30, is necessitated due to the resignation of sitting MLA and former state health minister Eatala Rajender, who quit the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in June this year.
Rajender was sacked from the state cabinet by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on May 2 following allegations of land grabbing. For the TRS, it is a matter of prestige to win the by-elections to the Huzurabad assembly seat. Huzurabad has been a TRS stronghold ever since its formation as part of the delimitation of assembly constituencies in 2009. Rajender, who had earlier represented the erstwhile Kamalapur assembly constituency, was the TRS MLA from Huzurabad for the last three terms till he resigned from the assembly membership in June this year.
Now that Rajender joined the BJP, the ruling party is pulling out all stops to retain its hold on Huzurabad by winning the by-poll. Ever since the seat has fallen vacant, TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao laid special focus on the Huzurabad constituency by pumping in huge money in the name of welfare and developmental activities.
“More than for Rajender, it is important for KCR to ensure the victory of the TRS in the by-elections. He forced Rajender to quit the TRS by sacking him from the cabinet on allegations of corruption. A victory for Rajender is a moral loss for KCR. Hence, he is splurging money in an unprecedented manner in Huzurabad to win the by-poll,” said political analyst Ramakrishna Sangem.
KCR entrusted the responsibility of leading the party to victory in Huzurabad to his trouble-shooter nephew and state finance minister T Harish Rao. For the last couple of months, Harish has been camping in the constituency, holding meetings with various caste groups, local youth and women organisations and seeking their support.
He, along with another minister from Karimnagar Gangula Kamalakar, took up several developmental programmes in the constituency, including laying roads in the interior areas, laying foundations for community halls and irrigation schemes. The TRS government also released funds liberally for the distribution of pensions and issuance of new ration cards to the beneficiaries to garner their votes.
The biggest weapon KCR has taken out to attract Dalit voters in Huzurabad is the Telangana Dalit Bandhu scheme, under which, each eligible Dalit family will get a direct benefit transfer of ₹10 lakh into their account for taking up a self-employment programme.
Soon after Rajender left the TRS, the chief minister announced the implementation of the Dalit Bandhu scheme as a pilot project in Huzurabad and launched it on August 16 at a public meeting at Shalapalli in the constituency.
The officials have identified as many as 23,000 Dalit families as eligible for the scheme and in two weeks, the government released ₹2,000 crores in four instalments exclusively for Huzurabad under the scheme. The chief minister said more money would be released soon to cover all the beneficiaries.
“It is nothing but bribing the voters to win the seat at any cost. If KCR has so much love for Dalits, he should implement the scheme for all the Dalits all over the state, instead of just Huzurabad,” Rajender had said.
The former minister is also leaving no stone unturned to win the Huzurabad seat once again. “The TRS leadership has lured most of my followers and leaders who were backing me till recently by offering them posts and money. But I am confident of winning the by-poll with the support of the people of Huzurabad, who have been blessing me for the last three terms,” Rajender said.
While Rajender is fighting the by-poll on behalf of BJP this time, the TRS has announced the candidature of its student wing leader Gellu Srinivasa Yadav. Both Rajender and Yadav are from other backward classes (OBC) communities.
The Congress party, which stood second in the last assembly elections held in December 2018, has hardly any stakes in the Huzurabad by-poll this time, as it has turned out to be a battle between the TRS and the BJP. Congress is yet to identify its candidate.
The newly-formed YSR Telangana Party floated by YS Sharmila, sister of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, has already announced that it won’t contest the Huzurabad by-poll. But Sharmila said she was contemplating fielding a group of unemployed youth in the contest to highlight the issue of the rampant unemployment in the state.
