A group of textile traders at a tea stall near Yellareddypet, 10 km from Sircilla textile town in Karimangar, watch autorickshaws pass them one by one, their loudspeakers blaring a political message from one party or the other. ?What has any of them done to deserve a vote,? wonders Vishwanath, a polyester yarn supplier.
Sircilla is known for its power looms and handlooms but high costs of yarn, electricity and transportation have cut profits at the textile park and the smaller hubs nearby. Smaller areas also suffer from shortage of water for drinking and irrigation. ?There has been no water supply for 15 days. The pipeline from Lower Maniar Dam has broken down once again and tankers are bringing water. Successive governments have promised electricity subsidy for power looms… I hope when we have a Telangana government, it will resolve these issues,? says G Pravin, a member of the Sircilla power loom workers? union.
In Karimnagar district that is symbolic as a hub of the Telangana movement, as in the other two northern districts of Nizamabad and Adilabad, the Congress wants to be credited with creating the new state but the TRS has stolen its thunder. ?TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao has wrested the initiative, and local Congress leaders are left to counter his allegations,? admits a Telangana PCC member.
Congress leaders struggle to explain why their campaign is so lacklustre and started so late. ?People know who is responsible for the new state. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi will be here again soon. I don?t think there is any problem,? Telangana PCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah says. Sonia held a meeting at Karimnagar April 16, Rahul has held meetings in Mahbubnagar and Hyderabad, and Manmohan Singh in Nalgonda.
?Local Congress leaders are confined to their constituencies and cannot help one another elsewhere,? admits a Congress leader in Huzurabad. KCR, in contrast, has travelled from end to end of the new state.
With two days left for campaigning, the Congress has belatedly dispatched Ghulam Nabi Azad, Vyalar Ravi, Jairam Ramesh and Digvijaya Singh. As they speak in Hindi, translators are struggling to convey what they mean to the audience.
There is also anger in the backward areas. ?We want water. What have the Congress and TDP governments done? The TRS should form the government and I am sure only they will resolve our problems,? says Bandari Chinamma, 50, at Indiranagar village.
In Karimnagar, sitting Congress MP Ponnam Prabhakar is often targeted for the erratic water supply. He is pitted against the BJP?s C Vidya Sagar Rao, the TRS?s MP B Vinod, and the YSRCP?s Meesala Raja Reddy.
Even the BJP, which has allied with the TDP, has shown more urgency than the Congress. In Mahbubnagar and its 14 assembly segments, half have sizeable Muslim populations. It is BJP Lok Sabha candidate Nagam Janardhana Reddy who has been interacting with them outside mosques. The Congress has fielded S Jaipal Reddy, the TRS Jitender Reddy.
In Nizamabad, KCR?s daughter K Kavita is challenging Congress MP Madhu Yashki Goud, while the BJP has fielded Y Lakshminarayana. ?Madhu has taken care of this constituency but I think he is going to be run over by Telangana sentiment,?? says S Jivan Reddy, 42, a wholesaler of turmeric, at Jagatial.