Vikarabad: The battles for Gajwel and Kamareddy Assembly constituencies are drawing the most anticipation, but Kodangal — where TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy will face the challenge of usurping BRS’ Patnam Narender Reddy — is not far behind in the most-watched list.
The ruling party is making every attempt to retain the seat, while the Congress is seeking to regain its past glory by emerging as a strong contender in its one-time strongholds. While Revanth Reddy won the seat twice, in 2009 and 2014, Narender Reddy won the seat in the 2018 Assembly elections, defeating Revanth Reddy by a margin of 9,319 votes.
However, the contest this time is set to be a much closer one, going by voters’ views.
The BRS candidate is trying to retain the electorate’s confidence banking on the 24-hour free supply to the agricultural sector, drinking water supply to households and BRS’ flagship schemes of Rythu Bandhu, Aasara pensions and Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak.
The Congress, not wanting to be outdone, is relying on its Six Guarantees, highlighting the ‘Maha Lakshmi’ and ‘Rythu Bharosa’ schemes announced by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi in particular, apart from highlighting irregularities in the construction of projects, especially irrigation projects, since 2014.
When questioned about Revanth Reddy’s remarks on three hours of power sufficing for agriculture, most voters were reluctant to comment. However, they said they were receiving sufficient supply at present, as a majority of farmers draw water through underground borewells, given that Kodangal is a rain-fed area.
The BJP, meanwhile, seems to be lagging in the contest.
Political observers said that the women and youth would decide the fate of the winning candidate in the constituency, as the Kodangal constituency has 10,272 young voters and marked a rise in women voters by 2,007 in the constituency.
Unemployment remained a point of discontent for the youngsters of the constituency.
“One of the main reasons for Telangana agitation was jobs (neeyamakalu), but the BRS government failed to provide jobs to eligible candidates,” said V. Sachin, of Peddanandigama hamlet in Kodangal.
Whichever way the win goes, it is going to be a close contest for the Kodangal hot seat.
