The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : ‘Shabbir ignored woes of common people’

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

‘Shabbir ignored woes of common people’

P. Ram Mohan

NIZAMABAD: Local problems and his poor performance in dealing with them are believed to have defeated Minister for Power and Minority Welfare Mohd. Ali Shabbir in Kamareddy constituency.

Though it was a foregone conclusion since the day the Mahakutami announced the candidature of former MLA Gampa Govardhan, Mr. Shabbir’s defeat is another major shock to the Congress in the district as he called the shots in the government being close to Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

Mr. Govardhan, who has a lot of sympathy among the electorate, secured 86,494 votes, while Mr. Shabbir polled 39,047. Mr. Shabbir received a humiliating defeat as the difference of votes between them was 47,447, the highest in the district. His younger brother Nayeem proved to be a major liability to him as he was being accused of acting as a shadow Minister.

The Minister failed to solve the drinking water scarcity in this backward segment, interruptions in power supply and the issue of migrant Gulf workers.

Stabbing incidents

Therefore, he faced the public wrath in the form of protest demonstrations before the elections. Kamareddy town was rocked with series of stabbing incidents sometime back.

Critics say that the Minister was given a good lesson as he had ignored the woes of common people.

On the other hand, the defeat of Congress in the district when the party swept the polls elsewhere in the State is largely seen as “anti-incumbent MLAs and not as anti-incumbent government.” Ironically, no legislator in the constituency won a second time consecutively.

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