Tribes do not swallow KCR’s bait

Mulugu/Bhupalpally: Even though the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrashekar Rao had gone that extra mile to lure the locals in his bid to retain Mulugu constituency, represented by Azmeera Chandulal, people in the region didn’t yield to his promise of carving out a new district with Mulugu as its headquarters.

It may be recalled that people in the constituency had fought hard demanding the State government to make Mulugu a new district in 2016. However, the TRS government preferred Bhupalpally in lieu of Mulugu as one of the new districts. Since then the locals have a sort of anger against the TRS government. 

People in Mulugu, which is predominantly a Adivasi constituency, has been plagued with several issues such as Podu are unhappy with the Minister for Tourism and Tribal Welfare Chandulal. They believed that separate district would augur well for their development, but it wasn’t to be.

The people contend that though the constituency has several exotic locations like Laknavaram Lake, Ramappa, Kotagullu and Eturnagaram wildlife sanctuary etc, Chandulal, who also holds the portfolio of tourism, failed to develop tourism-related economy to the locals.

The recent Adivasi–Lambadas rift over reservation also had its impact in the constituency. The Adivasis, whose population is more than the Lambadas, preferred Seethakka, who belongs to their clan, over Chandulal. This apart, the locals were of the opinion that Chandulal’s son Prahlad had acted like de-facto minister.

Sensing the danger, KCR during his electioneering in Mulugu promised to carve out a new district with Mulugu as its headquarters to woo the locals. KCR also went on to say that he would inaugurate the new district on January 26 next year. Notwithstanding KCR’s promise, the locals reflected their anger by voting for Congress’ Danasari Anasuya alias Seethakka, who won by a majority of 22,671 votes.

The situation was similar in Bhupalpally constituency. KCR promised minister post to his long-time friend Speaker Sirikonda Madhusudhana Chary, who represented Bhupalpally in the previous Assembly. However, Chary finished third losing to Congress’ Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy. Incidentally, Mulugu and Bhupalpally are the two seats the TRS has lost in this election in the erstwhile district of Warangal.