Adilabad Candidates Buy Homes to Prove Local Ties in Upcoming Elections

Adilabad: Candidates facing ‘non–local’ tag are trying to become locals by purchasing houses in their respective assembly constituencies before entering the upcoming electoral fight.

BSP’s chief Praveen Kumar, facing criticism of being a non-local in Sirpur (T), purchased a house at Kosini village in Kagaznagar on Oct 26. He posted copies of the documents from Kosini gram panchayat on social media.

In his social media post, Praveen extended an invitation to his constituents for the housewarming ceremony in the morning on Oct 29.

He said, “I purchased a small house respecting the local people and their love and affection to me. They invited me to contest from the Sirpur (T) constituency. Now, it is for the people of the constituency to decide who is local and who is not.”

Praveen Kumar was staying in a rented house in Kagaznagar town for the last few months and was taking rounds of the constituency. Contesting from Sirpur (T), Praveen has intensified the BSP’s campaign in the Komaram Bheem Asifabad district.

Meanwhile, Bhukya Johnson Naik reportedly purchased a house in Khanapur for his stay just before he was named the party candidate. Opposition party leaders and ticket aspirants within the party described him as non-local.

BRS candidate Johnson Naik contesting from Khanapur is a native of Metpalli of Jagtial, sharing borders with the Khanapur assembly constituency.

BRS leaders who aspired for party ticket alleged that Johnson Naik was non-local and campaigned against him, highlighting his background and saying Johnson would return to the US if he is defeated in the elections.

Johnson Naik however started staying in a rented house in Khanapur first and later purchased a permanent house to prove his credentials as a local. Naik made clear that he would stay back till his death to work for the people of Khanapur constituency.