Hyderabad: Elections in Telangana this time will not just decide who will form the first government in the new state but also indicate who the people credit for the creation of Telangana. It’s a topsy-turvy contest in many constituencies and never more so than in Parkal in Warangal district, where the Congress party has been considerably strengthened by cadres of its main rival, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.
Warangal DCC secretary and the candidate for the Parkal Assembly constituency, Venkatram Reddy, is contesting the elections for the first time but says reports from the ground and the response he is getting show that he is on the winning path.
In the last one week or so, nearly 4,000 disgruntled TRS cadre have joined the Congress ranks. “Nobody trusts the TRS. Even the lowest level worker knows how tickets were sold. The TRS is nothing but a KCR family party,” Mr Venkatram Reddy said.
Though TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been claiming credit for the formation of Telangana and calling Congress president Sonia Gandhi merely a ‘facilitator’, people know that it was only because of the Congress that the state was formed, Mr Reddy said.
“There is a Sonia wave in the whole of Telangana. It is even more intense here,” Mr Reddy added
His opponents are also first timers, with the TRS fielding Sahoder Reddy and the Telugu Desam putting up Dharma Reddy.
Congress cadre say that an additional factor working in his favour is that he is a local and has already done a lot of work. Parkal has a considerable youth vote bank which the Congress is looking to bag, banking on the youth-centric developmental activity that has been carried out. Also, the TD does not pose much of a threat.
“We are also looking at creating more opportunities and facilities for training to give the youth the much needed push. The only issues this time are development and Telangana. We win on both fronts,” Mr Venkatram Reddy said confidently.
