Ballari: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu's spat with the BJP at the Centre could hurt the saffron party's prospects in poll-bound Karnataka with a large number of farmers in some of its districts being migrants from the neighbouring state.
It was around three decades ago that several farmers of East and West Godavari, Guntur, Kurnool and other parts of Andhra Pradesh arrived in the irrigated belts of Ballari, Koppal, Raichur, Yadgir and Gulbarga districts and set up'camps' near the fields away from the villages before gradually blending in with the locals.
Over a thousand such camps came up in Hyderabad-Karnataka occupied largely by farmers of the Kamma community, traditionally staunch supporters of community icon, the late NT Rama Rao and his son-in-law, N Chandrababu Naidu.
These Telugu-speaking voters, who have their roots in Andhra Pradesh, play a decisive role in determining the election outcome in at least a dozen Assembly constituencies in Hyderabad-Karnataka region and usually vote en masse for a particular political party or candidate with the local Kamma sanghas taking a decision on the candidate to back and everyone falling in line.
Interestingly, these farmers do not depend on the government for drinking water or other basic amenities, and meet their needs themselves in the 1000-odd camps of 50 to 100 houses each.
Said Mr Ramakrishna Reddy, a resident of the Kasbe camp in Raichur Rural Assembly constituency, "Our only demand or expectation from elected representatives is adequate water from the Tungabhadra and Narayanpur reservoirs for our fields, nothing more."
But with a campaign now on in social media against the BJP and the Centre for not according special status to AP, the farmers have another issue to consider. "It's true that a campaign is on in social media against the BJP and some leaders from Andhra have approached us on the issues concerned , but we have not yet taken a decision," said Mr Ramakanth Rao of Sindhanur.
But Kamma community elder, Sambashiva Rao from Gangavati believes it will have an impact. "The AP issue concerning SCS and its funding in the Union Budget 2018 will be a huge factor in the Karnataka elections. Many people from the Godavari and Rayalaseema regions have settled in Bengaluru and Hyderabad- Karnataka. So if someone thinks his home state has been cheated by the BJP, there is every possibility that he may vote against it," he agreed.
A senior leader of the BJP's Telangana unit admits the party is worried that Telugu voters of Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka may not vote for it owing to its differences with the TDP.
"We have to wait and see if this issue will affect us because it is being made to look as if the BJP is responsible for AP's problems," said the BJP leader, adding that community meetings would be held in places like Bidar, Kalaburgi, Ballari and Kolar, which have around 30 per cent Telugu votes in some Assembly segments, in the next 10 days or so to reach out to voters.
