Hanumakonda: Can Gellu fulfil his father's dream?

Kamalapur (Hanumakonda): Can Gellu Srinivas Yadav succeed in what his father Mallaiah could not accomplish and defeat Eatala Rajender some 17 years ago? To find the answer, the people will have to wait till counting of votes on November 2.

The 2004 Assembly elections had seen Mallaiah contest as an independent with the support of Yadava community against the then TRS nominee Eatala from Kamalapur constituency (which was shelved after 2008 delimitation). However, Mallaiah withdrew from the contest midway and supported Eatala. Later, he became a close aide of Eatala and it continued until recently. Initially sailed with the Telugu Desam, Mallaiah has been active in politics since 1985 before he joined TRS. He was the convener of All India Yadav Maha Sabha between 2000 and 2005 and also served as the Kondapaka MPTC from 2001 to 2005. As of now, he is a director of primary agriculture cooperative society and coordinator of the Rythu Bandhu Samithi.

In the changed scenario, Eatala, who has been facing charges of land grabbing, left the TRS after he was stripped of his health minister portfolio and joined the BJP. Following this development, the luck smiled on Mallaiah's son Srinivas Yadav, the TRSV State president, and has become the ruling TRS' candidate in the by-poll to Huzurabad constituency, thus making it a contest between the two statehood fighters.

Gellu, a native of Veenavanka mandal in Huzurabad constituency, who did MA and LL.B is a research scholar in political science in Osmania University. The game plan of the TRS leadership is to match the profile of Eatala. Gellu (Yadav) and Eatala (Mudiraj) who both belong to the BC community have taken part in the separate Telangana movement. Predictably, the number of voters in Huzurabad constituency is around 2.26 lakh and of which nearly 1.20 lakh belongs to the BC community.