TRS must win in this Telangana by-polls

The Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh knows the word tussle well. Historically, and specifically in the last eight months.

Today it witnesses an electoral tussle. A political battle for 12 Assembly constituencies, necessitated by the resignation of 10 TRS, one BJP and one TDP MLA on the issue of statehood to Telangana in February this year after the Srikrishna Committee was announced.

Sixty eight thousand security personnel have been deployed in the 12 constituencies. There are 1538 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) seven and 1201 ballot boxes in five seats.

The highest number of candidates, 78, are in Sircilla.


Statehood for Telangana may be the top stated agenda here, but these by-elections mean different things to different people and their parties. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) is sparing no effort to win back the 10 seats it resigned. K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR)knows any setback will dent his standing in the region.

KCR, the TRS chief and the man whose agitation eight months ago set the stage for the latest unrest in Telangana, says, "Including D Srinivas, all 12 Congress candidates should lose their deposit. Only then will Sonia Gandhi realise the heat of the Telangana sentiment."

His son K T Rama Rao will be contesting from Sircilla in Karimnagar district. He had won by a margin of just 171 votes last year. Also, KCR's nephew is recontesting from Siddipet in Medak district.

This election sees KCR with a new politicial friend yet again, the BJP. Only a year ago he had joined hands with Chandrababu Naidu for the Lok Sabha 2009 battle and in 2004, had fought alongside the Congress.

D Srinivas, the president of the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, too knows this by-election will make or break his political career. Srinivas lost to the BJP from the Nizamabad urban seat in 2009. He desperately needs to win this one.

Srinivas' supporters hold out hope that if Srinivas is victorious, the Congress leadership will replace Rosaiah with him as chief minister to appease the people of Telangana. So Srinivas is going all out to project himself as the man for a Telangana state.

"Telangana is very near. We need not wait any more. The next elections will be contested in two states. I have confidence in that," the Congressman says.

Interestingly, there is talk that Nizamabad may see "match-fixing" between Srinivas and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to ensure that the state Congress chief wins.

The TDP has an ulterior motive in doing that. A tussle for the CM's job in Hyderabad will mean disarray in the Congress camp and that can only be music to Chandrababu Naidu's ears.

Not a great Telangana favourite for being seen as supporting a unified Andhra Pradesh, Naidu himself gave it a shot last week when he drove to Maharashtra to inspect the contentious Babhali barrage being built on the river Godavari. Maharashtra refused permission, Naidu was arrested, refused bail and then in a dramatic turn of events, was flown back to his state teary-eyed.

Naidu was championing the cause of six districts of Telangana that are irrigated by the Godavari and would be severely affected by the Maharashtra project. The timing was commented upon by all, the Congress crying "political stunt."

The other heavyweights include Shabbir Ali, former energy minister in YSR cabinet who lost elections from Kamareddy in 2009. He is contesting from Yellareddy this time. Also, G vinod, another former minister from YSR cabinet who is contesting again from Chennur seat in Adilabad after he lost to the TRS last year.

Apart from the political significance of these by-elections, there is the return of the ballot box in five constituencies. This is because these constituencies have more than 64 candidates, the maximum an Electronic Voting Machine can list.