Andhra Pradesh - Kurnool   

Clash between industrialist, trade union leader

By Our Staff Reporter

The TDP candidate, T.G. Venkatesh, being greeted by a woman during election campaign in Kurnool on Tuesday.

KURNOOL, APRIL 13. The industrialist, T.G. Venkatesh, of the TDP, and the trade union leader, M.A. Gafoor, of the CPI (M), are locked in the fight for the Kurnool Assembly seat.

The Congress leader, D. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, who was disappointed at the seat being allotted to the CPI (M), has entered the fray as an independent. He is likely to poll a considerable chunk of votes, but nobody is sure who would bear the brunt of his presence in the electoral battlefield. Mr. Venkatesh is concentrating on the minority vote bank to check the en masse support of Muslim voters to Mr. Gafoor. In an informal chat, Mr. Venkatesh said he was acceptable to a majority of the city's residents but there are some issues like caste, creed and group which would come in the way.

Mr. Venkatesh was hopeful of his victory but wanted to secure a huge margin by motivating voters to overcome emotional issues like caste and creed. A long debate ensued between the CPI(M) candidate and Mr. Venkatesh over the reasons for the setback to the industrial climate. Mr. Venkatesh held trade union anarchy responsible for the closure of industries and discouraging of prospective industrialists. Mr. Venkatesh claimed that to check the highhandedness in the garb of trade unionism, he donned the role of a trade unionist by starting the TGV trade union.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gafoor is hoping to secure the support of retired employees who were hurt by the failure of the Government to enhance the dearness allowance on a par with regular employees and residents of new colonies who were upset by the heavy taxation. Also, Mr. Gafoor expected the support of voters who disliked the policies of the TDP and the BJP governments. Though Mr. Vishnuvardhan Reddy claimed to be the Congress candidate without the party symbol, he is likely to poll votes based on his charisma. He was allotted the symbol of ceiling fan.

People who encouraged Mr. Reddy to contest thought that he would eat into the vote bank of Mr. Venkatesh. But he is also likely to share votes with the CPI(M) candidate also in certain localities. It is interesting to note that two independents by the names of Vishnuvardhan Reddy and M.A. Gafoor are in the fray. It is believed that they were inducted into the contest to cause confusion.

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