Weavers rue lack of support from political parties in Yemmiganur

Kurnool (Yemmiganur) : Yemmiganur was formerly known as Emmiganur. The name has the influence of Kannada, the language of bordering Karnataka State.

In Kannada language ‘Emmege’ means buffalo and ‘Nur’ is Hundred. While it was a Majara village in this area without a specific name cows and buffaloes were traded here for Rs 100.

In due course of time the Emmiganur name got transformed as Yemmiganur which means the village where the buffaloes were purchased for one hundred. Yemmiganur was included in the Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar, which flourished during 14th to 16th century. Later the town came under the Muslim rule.

Yemmiganur's popular industries are cotton ginning, peanut milling and weaving. The municipality is known for its handlooms. In those days the fabric woven at Yemmiganur was very famous and was exported to Singapore and other countries across the globe. There is a separate colony for the weavers. One eminent person Machani Somappa had contributed for setting up the colony.

The constituency with three mandals - Gonegandla, Yemmiganur and Nandavaram - has a total voter strength of 2,41,110. Males 1,19,430, females 1,21,637 and 43 others. The communities with significant population here are Valmikis, Nesa (weavers) (BC) and SCs.

Congress had won four times from this constituency, TDP five times and YSRCP once in 2019. Y Chenna Keshava Reddy of the YSR Congress Party is the current MLA of Yemmiganur constituency. Irrespective of which party represented the constituency, no facilities were created for the weavers’ community.

This resulted in about 70% weavers migrating to other places as their wages here were very low and even less than what a waiter in a restaurant gets.

With the cost of raw materials like threads and colours having increased and with power-looms replacing handlooms, there has been mass migration of handloom weavers. The TDP had announced to set up a textile park at Yemmiganur and issued orders earmarking 100 acres from the Banavasi veterinary farm.

But after the YSRCP came to power, it was put on back burner. Weavers’ community says that they would support any party that would assure to set up the textile park.

Meanwhile, intense lobbying for tickets is on in YSRCP and TDP. The present ruling party MLA K Chenna Kesava Reddy is trying for another chance in 2024. Rudra Goud also of YSRCP is also trying for the ticket. YSRCP sources say that the party may even consider fielding Butta Renuka, former MP.

From TDP BV Jaya Nageshwar Reddy and former Union Minister Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy are also in the race.