Hyderabad: For Telugu political parties, all roads seem to lead to Telangana’s Khammam region ahead of the 2023 assembly elections in the state.
For example, Chandrababu Naidu, chief of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), has public meeting in Khammam last week in the hope of reviving the organization in Telangana. Then, earlier this month, YS Sharmila – who is the sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and founder of the newly formed YSR Telangana Party – laid the foundations to the office of his political party in Khammam. She also announced that she would contest from Palair assembly constituency in Khammam district.
Declaring herself the “Daughter of Palayer”, she narrated how her late father, former Andhra CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), worked for the development of the region and built 20,000 houses and repaired the reservoir here .
Khammam is equally important for other parties. According to senior party leaders, the ruling K.K. Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS; formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS) led by Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) is working on a ‘Mission Khammam’. The Congress, which is struggling to survive in Telangana, has also taken its once bastion Khammam very seriously.
Political analyst Nageswara Rao views the Khammam region as a “microcosm” for regional political parties, all of whom are optimistic about their prospects and “eyeing it”.
So, what’s so special about Khammam? Located on the Andhra-Telangana border, Khammam shares many cultural and social similarities with the neighboring state. A significant portion of its population also belongs to the Kamma community, which is socially and politically influential in present-day Andhra Pradesh.
Khammam, notably, was one of the 10 districts that were bifurcated by the Telangana government in 2016, due to which parts of it were absorbed into other districts. Similarly, some areas were merged with Khammam from other districts. However, it has not lost its political significance.
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‘Andhra is the sky, Telangana is the land’
New state Telangana officially on 2 June 2014 came into being, carved from Andhra Pradesh. The decade-old agitation for a separate state followed, among other things, due to complaints about the allocation of resources and development from the state government.
YSR, who died in 2009, was never in favor of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Naidu also maintained a neutral stand during the time of the agitation and served as the CM of Andhra Pradesh from 2014-2019. So, how are parties like YSR Telangana Party and TDP expecting any support in Telangana’s Khammam?
Political experts point out how Khammam is not like other Telangana districts.
Nageswara Rao said, “Given the influence of Andhra over the Khammam region, it was never in strong support of the separate statehood movement or the erstwhile TRS, as compared to other districts of Telangana.” Said, As a result, even their BRS/TRS support for CM KCR, who played a major role in the movement for a separate Telangana state, is cold at best here.
“When TRS won 63 (out of 119 seats) In 2014, KCR realized that there were some gaps and he filled those gaps by bringing in leaders from other parties like Tummala Nageswara Rao from TDP. He did similar management in other areas as well,” said Nageswara Rao.
Significantly, after partition, YSRCP was headed by Sharmila’s brother and YSR’s son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Won Khammam won three assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 elections.
“There was a saying in the Khammam region before the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh – in Khammam, if the sky is Andhra, the land is Telangana. This indicates how much of a mixed bag Khammam is, unlike other districts in the state. There is a lot of social and cultural influence and characteristics of Andhra in the region,” senior political analyst Telkapalli Ravi told ThePrint.
As mentioned earlier, the region also has a significant ‘Kamma’ community population and Chandrababu Naidu hails from this community, stating that he had selected Khammam as the desired location to host a public meeting ahead of the elections. Why would you have chosen as
Former Congress and Left bastion
Before the TDP’s arrival in Khammam in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the fighting in the region was mainly between the Congress and the Left parties.
However, this equation has changed.
Congress in 2018 elections Contested Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP), in alliance with the CPI and the Telangana Jana Samithi. Of the 10 seats in the undivided Khammam district, the TDP won two. Meanwhile, the Congress won six seats in Khammam, making it a major chunk of its total of 19 seats in Telangana.
However, a dozen Congress legislators jumped to other parties, mainly the ruling BRS, reducing the party to its main opposition status. An important seat for the Congress in Khammam is the Madhira constituency, which is held by senior party leader Bhatti Vikramarka.
Nageswara Rao said, “Congress believes that people first won on its ticket and then switched to other parties, indicating that the party still has support in that area.” “When it comes to the Left parties, though they have lost in the state and cannot win anything on their own, it will be interesting to see with whom they align with the ruling BRS after recently forging an alliance with the ruling BRS in the Munugode bypoll. will do. Their alliance with any party adds flavor to that party, Left is like orange flavor to a cold drink,” he said.
Last month, the ruling BRS had tied up with the Left parties for this Munugode by-election In Nalgonda district of the state, which is close to Khammam. The party won with a majority of just over 10,000. Experts believe that this was possible purely because of the Left parties having a base of around 15,000 votes in the region.
“So, if the BRS wants an alliance with the Left parties, it should first happen in Khammam before anywhere else in the state. If it works in Khammam, it will in other districts,” said Nageswara Rao.
BJP’s ‘steal’ strategy
Khammam veteran Tummala Nageswara Rao, formerly an MLA for two decades, also comes from Chandrababu Naidu’s community.
He won on a BRS ticket in a by-election from Khammam constituency in 2016, but was defeated in subsequent elections. There is talk in political circles that Rao may rejoin TDP. precarious position In BRS, ahead of 2023 elections.
But, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also hoping to take on board any disgruntled leaders from rival parties.
He said, ‘BJP’s strategy has always depended on the weaknesses of others to strengthen itself. Personally he has no power in the state. So, if the BRS once again wants to forge an alliance with the Left parties in this region and if they demand the seat, Tummala may have to sacrifice,” said Nageswara Rao.
BJP had Won Two significant by-elections, one each in 2020 and 2021, on the BRS, and the winning candidates both times were those from other parties, including the ruling party.
For Sharmila, the only way to gain power is to depend on the importance and clout of the late YSR.
(Edited by Geetalakshmi Ramanathan)
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