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Gamblers on prowl
Gamblers on prowl, it’s not about which team will win the match. The object of betting is about which party will come to power in the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh.
Even before the IPL cricket series begins this month, bookies are raking in the moolah. This time, it’s not about which team will win the match. The object of betting is about which party will come to power in the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh and the new state of Telangana. The bookies are betting big on TDP and YSR Congress in Seemandhra and TRS in Telangana. They put YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy ahead of his rival and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu in Rayalaseema and TDP as the front-runner in coastal Andhra. In Telangana, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao is ‘ahead’ of Congress.
Going by the bookies, the YSR Congress Party would get 90 to 100 seats and TDP 75 to 85. While the TRS would win hands down with 70 to 80 seats, the Congress will win 40 to 50 seats in Telangana.Insiders say that the betting is widespread in the coastal Andhra districts where cash flow is high. Industrialists, businessmen and private financial institutions at local-level are the major participants in the betting in the three regions.
Sources said each of the persons indulging in this activity are placing about Rs 20 lakh to Rs 30 lakh as stake on YSRCP and Rs 15 to Rs 30 lakh on TDP and TRS. The modus operandi is bookies contact the interested candidates and fix the amount on phone and allot a secret code to them. After the election results, the candidates would get double the amount if their predications are correct. If not, they would lose the whole amount. In Seemandhra, the amount had already crossed Rs 200 crore to Rs 300 crore. In Telangana, it was about Rs 100 crore to Rs 200 crore. Sources said that the money being spent on the betting would increase by the time the elections are held on April 30 in Telangana and on May 7 in Seemandhra.
Apart from betting on parties, bookies also bet on individual contestants in coastal Andhra. TDP candidate from Guntur Parliamentary constituency, G Jayadev, is a hot favourite. BJP candidate D Purandeswari (who is yet to be allotted Lok Sabha seat), Congress candidates Botcha Jhansi, MM Pallam Raju (Kakinada), Devineni Avinash (Vijayawada) and Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy (Nellore Parliamentary constituency) and another YSRCP candidate and industrialist Ayodhyarami Reddy contesting from Narasaraopeta Lok Sabha seat were among others on whom betting is high in Seemandhra.
