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KCR’s man friday Harish Rao for sixth time from Siddipet

KCR’s man friday Harish Rao for sixth time from Siddipet

Siddipet, Telangana, Nov 20 (UNI) It was in 2001, that the current Telangana (caretaker) Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) quit the MLA post and party membership from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and formed Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which spearheaded the agitation for a separate state.
The movement for a separate state was mainly centered in Siddipet, a northern region, situated around 100 km from the state capital Hyderabad.
Since then, Siddipet, the hotbed of Telangana movement has been a stronghold of the TRS.
In 2004, KCR contested the Assembly elections from Siddipet and Lok Sabha from neighbouring Karimnagar constituency.
KCR won both the seats, but decided to go for the Lok Sabha seat as he had joined as a Minister in the Dr Manmohan Singh government at the centre.
Around the same period, T Harish Rao emerged in electoral politics. After the TRS founder nominated his nephew, he was the point person in the rural Telangana during the agitation times, to the Siddipet Assembly seat.
Till now, Mr Harish Rao has never tasted a defeat in an election. For the sixth time, he is contesting from the same seat for the December 7 Assembly polls in Telangana.
“He is one of our tall leaders. Unlike the Chief Minister, he is approachable to everyone. In fact, he was the backbone of the Telangana movement in the state level and a trouble shooter. He was the number two in the party as well as in the government, though after the entry of KTR (KT Rama Rao, son of KCR and a powerful Minister in the TRS government) there was a friction among the family members. He still enjoys the support of the mass”, said a senior TRS leader, who was part of the Telangana agitation.
Between 2004 and 2018, Mr Rao had won three bypolls, after he quit the MLA post following the call by KCR to intensify the agitation for a separate state, in 2004, 2008 and 2010, and two general elections in 2009 and 2014.
In the 2004 by-election, his won by 24,829 votes against TDP’s Cheruku Mthyam Reddy. In 2014 Assembly elections, his victory margin rose to 93,328, a 90 per cent vote share, against the Congress opponent Taduri Srinivas Goud.
“There is no doubt that Mr Harish Rao will win here. His popularity among the people is huge. He has leased huge land, which he owns in and around Siddipet to farmers. Also, he maintains a good relationship with the traders in the city”, said Prakash Reddy, who owns a start-up in Hyderabad city and has business in Siddipet town.
He elaborated that a weak opposition will also ensure Mr Rao’s win.
“The BJP candidate is claiming that he will win this time. But I don’t think, he may be able to reduce the vote share. The Kutami (people front) candidate is very weak and their votes too may go to Harish Rao”, he said.
In Siddipet, the BJP is fielding party’s district president and a native Naini Narottham Reddy, who claimed to be popular among the youth generation.
“We will end the family rule this time. They are corrupt. Harish Rao is making money from every irrigation projects. He will get money from everyone who wants to start a shop even in Siddipet. The development he talks about is an eye-wash. We are sure that we will make change this time”, said Rajesh, a BJP worker from Kodandaraopally village in Siddipet rural taluk.
Mr Rao got the portfolio of Irrigation when TRS formed the government in 2014. The TRS leaders claimed that the irrigation Ministry, headed by Mr Rao, worked to solve the water crisis in the state.
Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha are the two big infrastructure development programmes done by the TRS government and the main component of the projects which is related to the irrigation department.
Though all political parties agreed that the irrigation Ministry has done a good amount of work, though, they pointed out that there was no mechanism to check the account.
“There was a huge corruption in every irrigation projects. We know that. Also people, who lost the land for the projects are also upset. Congress has a chance of winning here by projecting his corruptions. But we gave the seat to Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and the candidate is weak. I don’t think even the Congress votes will transfer to TJS account”, said a Congress leader in the city, who doesn’t want to be identified.
TJS is fielding Bhavani Reddy, a relatively unknown face in the constituency, and is not visible in campaigning in the city.
“We are working to make his lead cross the one lakh margin, this time. Unlike earlier, Mr Rao is also entrusted to looking into Gajwel constituency (where KCR is contesting) and other constituencies in the Siddipet district. He does not want to focus only here as the people know him well”, Nageshwar Rao, a TRS worker, who is also part of the campaign in the city.
Who will be the successor of KCR? Mr Harish Rao or KTR? “We cannot predict anything in politics. Harish Rao has the capacity, however, I feel KCR may go with his son”, summed up the senior TRS leader.
UNI KNA SB 1613

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