Adilabad: Adivasis saved the face of the Congress party in the present elections with their candidates winning four MLA seats from constituencies reserved for STs in the state. Adivasi candidates won the seats despite the TRS and KCR wave in this elections.
There are four Adivasis among 19 MLAs who won on the Congress ticket in this election.
Indirectly, the ongoing Adivasis agitation demanding the removal of the Lambadas from STs list also helped them in winning the elections with the consolidation of the Adivasi vote bank.
The Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s apathy towards Adivasis also reflected in the results. There is a strong feeling among the Adivasis that KCR and TRS are in favour of Lambadas and KCR is just not sympathetic toward the Adivasis problems. The Adivasis remembered that KCR had categorically stated in the Assembly that ‘Gutti Koyalu’ were not Tribals who had migrated to Khammam and Warangal districts borders from bordering Chattisgarh.
However, top leaders of the TPCC during their election campaign had spoken in favour of Lambadas and how the Congress had included the Lambadas in the STs list during Indira Gandhi’s rule in 1976.
All the top Congress leaders were afraid that Lambadas would not vote for them in their respective constituencies but it was the Adivasis who openly supported the Congress if one goes by the voting patterns.
Adivasis argue that they are the sons of the soil and they are recognised as Tribals across the country, unlike the Lambadas. There are four Adivasis among 19 MLAs who won on the Congress tickets in this election, and none of Adivasis who contested on the TRS ticket has won. Out of the 12 seats reserved for the STs in the states, four are Adivasi candidates, all from the Congress, have won.
AICC president Mr Rahul Gandhi took the name of the Adivasi leader Mr Kumaram Bheem in Bhainsa meeting at the start of his election campaign in the State.
The four Adivasi candidates who contested with Congress ticket—Atram Sakku from Asifabad, Podem Veeraiah from Badrachalam, Rega Kantha Rao from Pinapaka and Seethakka from Mulugu and won the elections even in the KCR and TRS wave. Another Adivasi candidate M. Nageshwar Rao also won the election with a TDP ticket from Ashwaraopet.
Mr Soyam Bapurao who is leading the Adivasi Hakkula Porata Samiti (Thudumdebba) had lost the election with 6,639 votes with the alleged backstabbing of his own party leaders. TRS leadership was also focused on Mr Soyam Bapurao and made all-out efforts to defeat him from Boath. Seethakka won the election with 22,671 votes majority against former minister Ajmeera Chandulal from Mulugu.
