What Nandyal voters want?

Kurnool: Politicos have segmented Nandyal constituency on the basis of caste composition. Based on 2014 election turnout, voters have been categorised as per their caste, with votes of Balijas, Muslims, Vysyas, settlers from Guntur, and scheduled castes and tribes being identified and classified.

A strategy has been worked out by the political parties to address these sections. Deccan Chronicle reached out to representative voices from the identified sections and here are their views:

Bhavanasi Pullaiah, a candidate fielded by Rayalaseema Parira-kshana Samithi, was asked to gauge the mood of the Nandyal voters based on major caste and community compositions. According to him, people are not polarised on caste lines as the leaders expected them to be. TD targeting Balijas with Municipal Administration Minister Narayana was as much of a flawed decision as YSRC using Botsa Satyanarayana to reach out to the Balijas, he felt.

Altaf Hussain, a BTech student, said that politicians appeasing Muslims with the reservation carrot was fine, but how many minority students would be going to colleges to reap the benefits? Most of the students either stop their education at Class X or at the most, go to ITI or Polytechnic, he said. “Fee reimbursement used to attract some students earlier but now that too no longer pulls in votes,” he added. Nichenametal Ramesh, a trader who deals in oils, said that the traders need financial resources to expand their business. “Our leaders are trying to organise a finance corporation. In Nandyal many small time traders wind up their businesses when there is a capital crunch. Or they are forced to opt for insolvency filing,” he said.