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Hyderabad
Having faced a debacle in the just-concluded assembly elections in Telangana, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi has asked its affiliated trade union – Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS) (Telangana coal mine workers’ association) — to drop out from the trade union elections in state-run Singareni Collieries Company Ltd, scheduled to be held on December 27.
“The BRS top leadership has called us and asked us to drop out of the elections without specifying any reasons. This was shocking and surprising to all of us,” TBGKS working president Kengarla Mallaiah told HT.
He said he, along with president B Venkat Rao and general secretary Miryala Raji Reddy, resigned from the BRS in protest against the party’s decision. “We have sent our resignations to BRS lawmaker and TBGKS honorary president Kalvakuntla Kavitha on Thursday itself,” Mallaiah said.
He said the BRS leadership had apparently felt that the party might face the same fate as it had during the recent assembly polls, if the TBGKS contested the trade union elections.
The Singareni coal mines are spread over 11 assembly constituencies in erstwhile Adilabad, Khammam, Warangal and Karimnagar districts. In the 2023 elections, nine seats were won by the Congress and one each by the CPI (Kothagudem) and BRS (Asifabad).
“Whether we win or lose the elections is a different matter, but we have to put up a fight to sustain. How can we drop the gun without even putting up the fight?” Mallaiah asked.
In fact, the nomination process for the Singareni Collieries trade union elections was completed in October.
Only polling, which was supposed to be held on October 28, was postponed to December 27, following a petition filed by the then BRS government in the state high court seeking postponement on the ground that assembly elections were due to be held.
Even after the assembly elections, the Singareni Collieries management wanted further postponement of the trade union elections till the Lok Sabha elections, but on Thursday, the state high court dismissed its petition and ordered that the polling should be held at any cost on December 27.
“Technically, the TBGKS is in the fray, as ballot papers have our names printed. Now, if we suddenly withdraw from the contest, we shall lose face and it will send the wrong message to our supporters,” Mallaiah said.
The elections to the recognised trade union of the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL), one of the largest coal mining companies in the country, are considered prestigious, as the elected body would wield a lot of influence in deciding the fate of political parties in the assembly and general elections.
The elections, which were held last time in 2017, were supposed to be held again in 2022, but were postponed several times due to lack of clearance from the previous BRS government.
In the last elections, the TBGKS headed by BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter and MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha emerged victorious by winning nine out of 11 coal mine divisions.
This time, with the TBGKS dropping from the contest, the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), affiliated to the Congress, and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), affiliated to the Communist Party of India, remained in fray as major contenders.
“There is also Hindustan Mazdoor Sangh (HMS), affiliated to the BJP, in the fray, but it is an insignificant player,” another trade union leader, who refused to be quoted, said.
With the Congress and the CPI fighting the recent assembly elections together, they might continue the same arrangement in Singareni Collieries trade union elections. “It all depends on which union will bag most number of divisions,” Mallaiah added.
Srinivasa Rao is Senior Assistant Editor based out of Hyderabad covering developments in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana . He has over three decades of reporting experience.