IF RIVAL CANDIDATES of the Huzurabad bypoll would agree on one thing, it is that this could be the country’s most expensive election. A senior Congress leader, who is in charge of a segment within the constituency, even said, “US President Biden’s campaign would pale in comparison given all this spending.”
Huzurabad, which votes on October 30, lies in Karimnagar district in north Telangana. Eatala Rajender had won the seat six times; the former health minister used to be a close aide of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. Earlier this year, Rao threw him out of the cabinet, citing allegations of land grab. Hurt by Rao’s haste, Rajender accused him of stifling dissent; he resigned from the party and the assembly, triggering the byelection.
As it stands today, Rajender will run on a BJP ticket; he is out not only to settle a personal score but also to secure his political future. The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi has fielded Gellu Srinivas Yadav, a youth leader and a former aide of Rajender. The party, however, is banking on Rao’s image. The Congress, in a surprise move, chose National Students’Union of India leader Balmoor Venkat.
After Rajender resigned in early June, the state’s politics has centred on Huzurabad. In August, when the government launched the Dalit Bandhu scheme—a direct benefit transfer initiative—the opposition alleged that Rao was only doing this to appeal to the Dalits in Huzurabad, around 50,000 of the 2.3 lakh voters. Rao doubled down, launching the pilot in Huzurabad. He also said the government would spend Rs1.8 lakh crore on the scheme. The Election Commission of India has stayed the project for now.
TRS candidate Gellu Srinivas Yadav with Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.
“In the past four months, Rs400 crore has been released for various development projects and welfare initiatives in Huzurabad,” said a senior TRS leader from the area who is actively campaigning. “In Huzurabad town alone, Rs50 crore worth of beautification and civic work is going on. We are also extending financial assistance to communities, women self-help groups and the handicapped. Old bills are also being cleared so that local bodies get empowered and develop their villages. Priority is also being given to local beneficiaries of ongoing schemes.”
Rao’s nephew, Finance Minister Harish Rao, is closely monitoring the TRS campaign there, and around half of the state cabinet and many MLAs have already visited Huzurabad. The TRS is banking on two factors—the flow of funds, and the fact that more than half the voters have benefited from at least one government scheme.
Rajender, on the other hand, hit the street right after he quit the TRS. In July, he went on a padayatra in his constituency; his family, too, is going door to door seeking votes. The BJP is confident that while other TRS leaders in Huzurabad did not follow him, the grassroots are still with Rajender. “For the past two decades, Rajender has never let anyone leave his house without eating with them at the same table,” said a BJP leader. “In case of medical cases, he arranges for the stay and treatment of the patient and family members. He knows local party workers by name. The emotional connect is just too strong for voters to let him down.”
It is clear that Rajender is banking more on his personal image than on the BJP, which is focussing on booth management, especially in the hours leading up to voting day. “Rajender’s network is smashed,” said a senior local journalist who works for a Telugu daily. “The TRS, by hook or by crook, stopped all of its sarpanches, zilla parishad leaders and ward members from following Rajender. The major question is, who will he depend on now?”
The TRS had also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission that BJP leaders were opening bank accounts for voters to directly transfer money in return for votes.
The BJP does not have a presence in the constituency; in the 2018 assembly elections, the party had got only 1,683 votes. The Congress had come in second with 61,121 votes, but that candidate later joined the TRS.
The party seems to be lagging its rivals, and has accused the TRS and the BJP of using money power. “Leaders have been bought with packages,” said a senior Congress leader. “Recently, we went to a village to organise a lunch meeting and met a few locals. Within a few hours, they called and asked us to cancel the event as another party had called them. It feels like every village has been bought and there is no entry for other parties.”
New beginning: YSR Congress Party candidate in Badvel Dasari Sudha with minister Peddi Reddy Ramchandra Reddy and MLA Roja.
Some people in Huzurabad said that festival season had come early as homes in the countryside had got free liquor and meat. The important business community has been noticeably quiet about which way it will vote, but local leaders said that several residents were expecting to be paid between Rs3,000 and Rs5,000 for a vote.
“If Rajender loses, his political future is sealed,” said political analyst Telakapalli Ravi. “Having challenged KCR, he will be ridiculed if he loses. Those in the BJP will also try to eclipse him. KCR might project it as a case study to show what happens when someone goes against him. If Rajender wins, he would have only defended his position. There are no miracles waiting to happen; the BJP is still not a big party in the state. [But] if the TRS loses even after spending thousands of crores, the impression that KCR is a supreme leader will weaken and there can be rebellion within the party.”
There is another byelection on the same day in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. The story there, though, is quite different. The election to the Badvel seat in Kadapa district came about because of the death of YSR Congress MLA Venkata Subbaiah in March. His wife, physician Dasari Sudha, has been given the ticket.
Though the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) announced a candidate initially, it later withdrew citing a tradition of the party not contesting against family members of deceased leaders. The BJP offered the seat to its ally, the Jana Sena Party, but Pawan Kalyan’s party pulled out after initially being willing. It gave the same reason that the TDP did.
Caught by surprise, and with no choice left, the BJP named Suresh Panathala, an MBA and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad leader, as its candidate. The party had got less than 1,000 votes in the 2019 assembly elections.
The JSP tried to be clever by not contesting, said senior political analyst Purushotham Reddy. If it had contested and lost, it would have been seen as a weak ally. However, added Reddy, the JSP looks insincere as it is supporting the BJP’s candidate even though it goes against the “tradition”.
The Congress, which has weakened considerably in recent years, has put up former MLA P.M. Kamalamma.
“The TDP did not want to lose face, so it boycotted the elections by playing the ‘tradition’ card,” said Reddy. “The ruling YSR Congress is strong because more than 50 per cent of the voters in the constituency are Reddys and minorities, who form its vote bank. Unfortunately, the TDP has given an impression that it is scared as it withdrew even without the YSR Congress requesting it to.”