The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : TDP relies on women while TRS looks up to tribals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 13, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

TDP relies on women while TRS looks up to tribals

By S. Harpal Singh

ADILABAD, APRIL 12. If the Telugu Desam Party is trying to retain the Adilabad Lok Sabha seat on the strength of its hold on women voters, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti is relying on the tribal vote bank in the district. It is a straight contest between the two parties here and considering their relative strengths in the constituency, it could be a toss between the two.

This seat encompasses Adilabad, Boath (ST), Nirmal, Mudhole, Khanapur (ST), Asifabad (SC) and Sirpur Assembly segments. Adilabad, Boath, Khanapur, Sirpur and Asifabad were held by the TDP and the remaining two by the Congress, an ally of the TRS. For the fourth consecutive time, the TDP has fielded the former Union Minister and Politburo member, S. Venugopalachary.

The TRS has put up a senior advocate and a former Zilla Parishad chairman, T. Madhusudan Reddy.

The Lok Sabha constituency has a voter strength of nearly 11.5 lakh. The average percentage of polling stands at 60 in the elections gone by.

Dr. Venugopalachary rests his campaign on the development plank. He reels out figures relating to increase in acreage under irrigation in the district, construction of new irrigation projects, improvement of roads and sanitation and facilities in railway stations.

He hits out at the 45-year rule of the Congress and criticises the TRS for its opportunistic approach and is a step ahead in terms of campaigning. Mr. Madhusudan Reddy is recovering from a recent road accident and the TRS is yet to give a thrust to its campaign in the coal belt where the TDP president and Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, has already addressed two election rallies with Mr. Venugopalachary.

An assessment of the relative strengths of the two candidates reveals that the TDP would gain slightly in the coal belt of Asifabad Assembly segment where the TRS has put up Rajamallu, against the Communist Party of India's Gunda Mallesh. The CPI has a fairly good hold

among the miners. However, in the neighbouring Sirpur Assembly segment, the TRS would stand to gain because of the hard work of the Congress candidate, Koneru Konappa.

Khanapur and Boath Assembly segments being predominantly tribal constituencies, the TRS hopes to get a good number of votes here. Adilabad Assembly had given a 40,000 lead to Dr. Venugopalachary during the last elections.

The TDP is trying hard to keep this lead intact. At Mudhole, the TRS has fielded a TDP rebel, Narayan Rao Patel and hopes to encash on the sympathy factor in this Assembly segment.

Nirmal Assembly seat has not sided with Dr. Venugopalachary since he has opted for the Lok Sabha in 1996. It has given a lead to Congress candidate in the last elections and returned a Congress MLA, A. Indrakaran Reddy, who is a Telangana protagonist.

There are about 13,000 active women self help groups in the seven Assembly constituencies under this Lok Sabha seat. On an average, each group comprises 17 members. The total number of women enrolled in the SHGs thus comes to about 2.2 lakh. The TDP claims this as its vote bank.

The tribal population in the district amounts to about 5 lakh. The tribal population of Chennur and Luxettipet Assembly segments notwithstanding, the tribal voters would number about 2.5 lakh. The TRS is banking heavily on this section.

The voter turnout in the past elections was pegged at between 60 and 70 per cent and Dr. Venugopalachary had registered a win by a margin of over 1 lakh votes during the last elections. Tribal areas have always recorded higher percentage of polling in the past.

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