Huzurabad bypoll: Singapur back in spotlight

Huzurabad: Ever heard of Singapur, a tiny village 5 km from Huzurabad town, was once a power centre. Singapur was a beehive of political activity in the times of Vodithela Rajeshwar Rao, popularly known as Singapuram Rajeshwar Rao, a close confidante of former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.

Although the political legacy left behind by him is being continued by his younger brother Capt. V Laxmikantha Rao as a Rajya Sabha member, and the latter's son Sathish Kumar as the Husnabad MLA, the village lost its prominence politically.

KCR's proximity with the Vodithela family may also be mentioned here. The Vodithela family was the main source of support to KCR when he took up Telangana Movement in 2001. KCR then held a series of meetings in Singapur before the launch of the TRS party.

But, ahead of the impending by-election to the Huzurabad Assembly seat, the spotlight is back on Singapur with the Finance Minister T Harish Rao, who is also known as a 'troubleshooter', frequenting the village for the last few days. Obviously, he is on a mission to maneuver TRS forces ahead of a stormy face-off with the BJP's Eatala Rajender, who emerged victorious in last six elections.

Harish who has been monitoring the poll situation in Huzurabad from Ranganayaka Sagar near Siddipet for the last few weeks shifted his base to Vodithela's guest house in Singapur as the old building was in a dilapidated state. Noticing the gravity of the situation, he also wanted to have a close look at the by-poll trend. Seriously on target, Harish was also maintaining a sort of privacy. Party sources say that he was choosy in meeting the leaders and the cadres.

It's said that he already had a SWOT analysis of the constituency – mandal-wise and leader-wise.

Like the cricketing term – Big boys play at night, Harish was meeting key leaders in the night, and explaining to them the strategy to woo the voters besides attracting the cadres from the opposite camp.

It's learnt that Harish was stressing on meeting every voter whether they are TRS sympathisers or Eatala's followers.