This is a change of tactic from the last Assembly elections, held in December 2018, when KCR mostly spoke about his government’s welfare schemes and the development achieved by the state.
The strategy rethink appears to have come after the Congress started showing a revival in Telangana, following its Karnataka win. The BJP, which looked on course to replace the Congress as the main opposition after a string of poll victories, has lost steam in contrast.
KCR, the face of the Telangana statehood agitation, has been raising the regional pride issue since he kicked off his campaign drive, involving 41 rallies across the state. At the first meeting, at Palamuru in Mahbubnagar, the Telangana Chief Minister recalled how during the statehood movement, he had visited every nook and corner of the district to find out for himself the plight of the people.
“Today we have changed Palamuru into a gold mine with development. Don’t trust the Congress. Telangana will see disaster if the Congress wins,’’ he said.
KCR said Telangana was forged from the sacrifices of many people, and reminded the people about his own fast-unto-death agitation. He also invoked the late Telangana ideologue K Jayashankar, and said it was on the professor’s suggestion that he contested from Mahbubnagar.
“The Mahbubnagar district was facing hunger and drought, and we wept seeing the suffering. Despite the Krishna river flowing in the district, Andhra rulers had played tricks… laying foundation stones without any progress,” he said, going on to talk about his government’s Palamuru lift scheme to change this.
In this meeting and the four others since, the crux of KCR’s message has been that, if the Congress comes to power, Telangana will be “doomed”, with all that was procured from the statehood movement lost.
“You will not get electricity if the Congress comes… Rythu Bandhu and Dalit Bandhu will be scrapped,” KCR said at one meeting.
At Siddipet, where the CM made a halt at a roadside dhaba to have tea – similar to a stop made by Rahul Gandhi during his recent poll tour – KCR said that if Telangana was a “model state”, Siddipet was “its leader”. He then went on to say that the same Siddipet once did not have water, roads or even crops. “We believed that there would be no justice for this land unless we overthrow the ruling party and liberate Telangana.”
KCR recalled that those opposed to Andhra’s division and creation of Telangana “spent crores and crores” to defeat his party’s candidates. “But, they were defeated and sent away. Siddipet laid the foundation for the success of the Telangana movement. I cannot forget this.”
He claimed that Ramancha village in Siddipet was “the inspiration for Dalit Bandhu”. “I bought a bicycle for a newlywed couple. The joy of the couple inspired me to bring many schemes for the poor, including Dalit bandhu.”
At Sircilla, from where his son, political heir and IT Minister K T Rama Rao is contesting, KCR said he had visited the place at least 170 times during the Telangana movement, and since he became a political leader. “Sircilla is the district where I have kinship, relationships, friendships and many of my classmates,” he said, adding that the area’s Manair reservoir was destroyed under Andhra Pradesh, while its rice mills shut down. “It gives me great satisfaction that the Upper Manair Reservoir is now full of water.”
KCR added that Sircilla was lucky to have minister K T Rama Rao as MLA. “When I was an MP, one day seven handloom workers here died. A party fund of Rs 50 lakh was given so that no one had to die thus,” the CM said, adding that as Handlooms minister, Rao had brought many positive changes.
At Bhongir, KCR said the district would not have come into existence had Telangana not been formed. “Once drought-affected, Bhongir is now abundant in crops. We fought many battles to get Godavari water to the district and canal works will be completed soon,’’ he said.
At Jangaon, KCR said that nine-and-a-half years after Telangana was formed due to its statehood agitation, “there is no migration, no drought, there are irrigation facilities, fresh water supply, and 24-hours electricity… The new Jangaon district has emerged as a growth corridor between Hyderabad and Warangal.”
The BRS chief has also been warning people that a Congress government would mean an end to schemes such as the Dharani lands portal as well as provision of 24-hour free electricity. “They say three hours is enough.”
BRS / TRS estimated vote share: 34.3%; seats 63
Congress: 25.2%; seats 21
BJP: 7.1% votes; seats 5
TRS: 46.9% vote share; 88 seats of 119
Congress: 28.4%; seats 19
BJP: 6.98%; seat 1
TRS: 41.71% vote share; seats 9 of 17
Congress: 29.79%; seats 3
BJP: 19.65%; seats 4
Sreenivas Janyala… read more