KCR upholds promise made to Kova Laxmi after her defeat in 2018 elections
Adilabad: An understanding of Hindi and English along with one’s mother tongue works as an added advantage. But, the inability to speak Hindi and English perhaps turned out to be an advantage to Asifabad ZP chairperson Kova Laxmi.
Kova Laxmi was defeated with a minor difference of 172 votes in the Asifabad constituency during the 2018 assembly elections. There were allegations that another candidate hatched a plan against Kova Laxmi to defeat her so as to grab the Tribal Ministry.
Atram Sakku who contested with the Congress ticket was elected against Kova Laxmi and later Sakku joined the BRS.
Kova Laxmi reportedly explained about the conspiracy hatched against her when she met KCR after the results were out. She followed KCR’s instructions not to file a case for recount of the polled votes. KCR reportedly told her that he knew all what had happened behind the scenes against her and, for the interim, made her the ZP chairman.
Kova Laxmi got a call from KCR while he was finalizing her candidature for Asifabad. She told KCR that she could not speak Hindi and English but can speak a little Telugu and is good at her mother tongue Gondi. Hence, she said, she would not do justice to the MP post when KCR asked her whether she would like to be the Adilabad MP.
She also explained to KCR that she had studied only up to SSC in Asifabad unlike sitting MLA Atram Sakku who worked as a government teacher and spoke both Hindi and English apart from his mother tongue.
KCR told Kova Laxmi that her performance as a leader was top-class and that was reflected in all the surveys the party did.
Kova Laxmi’s father, the late Kotnak Bheem Rao was the first graduate from the Gond community in Adilabad and a senior Congress leader who worked as minister twice during the Congress rule.
KCR being the MLA then had good relations with Bheem Rao. Recently, KCR inaugurated a Bheem Rao statue in the headquarters of the Komaram Bheem Asifabad district.
Kova Laxmi explained about the conspiracy hatched against her when she met KCR after the election results were out.
In July 2022, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had tactically chosen Kova Laxmi for applying tilak to Yashwanth Sinha, who was the opposition candidate in the elections for the post of the President. Sinha, however, was defeated by BJP nominee Droupadi Murmu, a tribal leader from Odisha.
Kova Laxmi was the lone Adivasi woman Zilla Parishad chairperson in the Telangana state and she’s a former MLA. She started her career as an elected local body representative.
Asifabad Zilla Grandhalaya Samstha chairman Kanaka Yadavrao noted that Chief Minister KCR made Adivasi BRS leader Pendore Neela Bai, who actively participated in the Telangana agitation, a member of the ST Commission when everybody forgot about her.
