The Shaky Citadel

IT IS HARVEST SEASON IN TELANGANA, WHICH procured a record 64.30 lakh metric tonnes of paddy worth ₹13,750 crore from 9.76 lakh farmers in the vana­kalam (kharif) season last year. With over two crore acres under cultivation, the state has, during the past decade, steadily built a reputation for itself as India’s rice bowl. The political fortunes of the man responsible for greening Telan­gana may, however, be in the red for the first time since the forma­tion of the new state as Congress attempts to ride a palpable wave of anti-incumbency on November 30 when the state will vote for a new government. “After two terms, three terms, one gets tired and wants to give someone else a chance,” says 30-year-old Menaka Bondla, a farmer drying paddy by the national highway connecting Hyderabad to the northern districts of Kamareddy, Nizamabad and Adilabad. We are in Narsingi, a village that falls under Dubbaka, the Assembly constituency straddling Medak and Siddipet districts that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) man­aged to snatch from the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS, previously the Telangana Rashtra Samithi) in a by-election in 2020 necessitated by the death of the incumbent MLA S Rama­linga Reddy. Sandwiched between Gajwel, represented by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), Siddipet, held by T Harish Rao, KCR’s nephew and the state’s finance minister, and Sircilla, the constituency of KT Rama Rao, IT minister and BRS’ heir ap­parent, Dubbaka delivered a verdict, albeit by a slim margin, that seemed to suggest the people of Telangana were no longer content with BRS. It helped BJP create a narrative against “family rule” and make inroads into other seats in Telangana, a state where the na­tional party was considered a marginal player at best. Bondla and others from her village voted for BJP candidate M Raghunandan Rao because they wanted “change”, but instead, what they got was “nothing”. “The MLA hasn’t visited since winning the election. He has done nothing for three years,” says Bondla. “It is between BRS and Congress now. Many of us are in two minds.” Bondla and her husband own a tractor and three acres on which they grew vegetables until seven years ago. “We switched to paddy because it is easier to grow, and the government procures it directly. We supplement the income by rolling bidis.” The farm loans they had taken till 2006 were waived and they get ₹10,000 an acre in direct cash transfer from the government every year under its flagship Rythu Bandhu scheme, launched ahead of the 2018 Assembly election. BRS won 88 of the 119 seats, bagging 47.4 per cent of the vote, with Congress coming a distant second with 19 seats.

BRS faces an uphill battle this time despite its ever-burgeoning welfare budget, with allegations of corruption and mismanage­ment of schemes denting Brand KCR. Amidst a general tiredness with the incumbent, voters are citing various personal reasons for considering alternatives. Sujatha Gurrala, a 36-year-old ten­ant farmer in Narsingi, says BRS has failed to give land and jobs to the poor even though the two issues were at the heart of its campaign for a new state. “They promised landless Dalit women three acres of land and then went back on it.” Gurrala receives a monthly widow’s pension, but says she hasn’t benefited from other government schemes despite applying for several, includ­ing Kalyana Lakshmi (financial assistance for marriage), the Double Bedroom Housing scheme, and Dalita Bandhu, touted as the country’s biggest direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for Dalits with a one-time grant of ₹10 lakh per Dalit household. The Dalita Bandhu scheme, launched on a pilot basis in the run-up to the Huzurabad by-election in 2021, has only benefited 38,600 families so far and activists warn that implementation may slow down after the Assembly polls. Despite the broken promises, Gurrala says she is hesitant to vote for an “outsider party”. “TRS is our own party. What is the surety that Congress will implement its promises if it comes to power?” she says.

Congress, buoyed by its victory in Karnataka, has hit the ground running with a manifesto built around six social guaran­tees—for women, ₹2,500 every month, gas cylinders at ₹500 and free travel in RTC buses; ₹15,000 per acre for farmers and tenant farmers every year, and ₹12,000 per year for agricultural labourers; 200 units of free electricity to every household, 250 sq yard plots to everyone who participated in the Telangana movement, and a site and ₹5 lakh for anyone who doesn’t own a house; Vidya Bharosa Cards worth ₹5 lakh for students; ₹4,000 monthly pension for seniors and ₹10 lakh coverage under Rajiv Aarogyasri insurance. BRS, which has prided itself on setting a precedent with welfare schemes like Rythu Bandhu, is visibly miffed at the opposition’s arsenal of welfare schemes. “We have been exposing Congress’ failure to implement its guarantees in Karnataka. Congress won by default in Karnataka because of BJP’s ineffective governance. Here, we have a social security net already in place and people won’t fall for tall promises that far exceed the state’s budget. As a party sure of returning to power, BRS has made responsible prom­ises to the people,” said Kalvakuntla Kavitha, KCR’s daughter and an MLC from Nizamabad, speaking to Open. “BRS is aiming for a century,” she added, claiming that Congress would remain a distant second in the state.

“Congress leader Uttam Kumar Reddy says Rythu Bandhu is a waste of public money. Another leader, the present PCC president, says three hours of power is enough for farmers. If Congress wins, they will say Ram Ram to Rythu Bandhu and Jai Bhim to Dalita Bandhu. People should decide what kind of situation they would like to be in,” KCR said at a public meeting in Palair, Khammam district.

Wherever one goes in Hyderabad, pink posters declare from Metro pillars and hoardings that the state has been a trailblazer in economic development. “Let’sgofromgoodtogreat,” urgesaslogan, likely coined by KT Rama Rao, BRS’ in-house election strategist.

To be sure, under the BRS administration, the state’s per capita income has risen from ₹1.24 lakh in 2014-15 to ₹3.17 lakh in 2022- 23—that is, ₹1.46 lakh higher than the national per capita income. According to the ‘Telangana Socio Economic Outlook 2023’, ta­bled by the state government in the Assembly earlier this year, the average citizen in Telangana can expect their income to double in roughly five to six years, whereas the average Indian would have to wait for about eight to nine years. The irrigated area has more than trebled from 20 lakh acres in 2014 to over 73 lakh acres. The reality on the ground, however, is not all black-and-white. “I have nothing against BRS. They have created good infrastructure in Hyderabad. But there is only one IT hub in the state, and we need more jobs. I believe BRS is the only party that can bring in jobs in large numbers,” says 36-year-old K Sathish, a shopkeeper at a gold-plated trinkets shop in Sanathnagar whose wife, an engineer, has been unemployed since 2017. “With two kids, it is difficult to make ends meet on one income in Hyderabad.”

CONGRESS HAS BEEN ACCUSING BJP OF BEING BRS’ ‘B team’—a strategy that, Kavitha claims, is aimed at influencing the minority vote bank. “We have given away ₹13,000 crore to minorities. This is sure to have an effect.” She also points to the increase in enrolment in government schools—43.7 per cent of all students in Telangana now attend state-run schools—and in institutional deliveries in government hospitals, effectively increasing the disposable incomes of the poor. The allegations of collusion between BJP and BRS, however, seem to have stuck. In Hyderabad’s LB Nagar, Mallesh, a tender coconut seller who does not want to reveal his initials, says he has convinced all seven people in his household to vote Congress. “We voted for KCR twice. It is time to give someone else a chance. BRS has clearly cut a deal with BJP—the Delhi excise policy case has revealed that much—so Congress seems to be our only op­tion,” says the father of two, barely looking up from his phone, streaming the India-Australia Cricket World Cup final.

“BRS is like expired medicine. You can’t keep selling the same medicine just by changing the date. People will know,” says Madhu Yaskhi Goud, the Congress campaign committee chair­man contesting from LB Nagar, a populous constituency with 6 lakh voters that will be hard to win. Goud is perceived to be an outsider here while the incumbent BRS MLA D Sudheer Reddy is seeking a third term. This is also a constituency where BJP had swept the local body polls in 2020. The saffron party bagged 48 of the 150 wards, and went on to win the Dubbaka and Huzurabad bypolls in a huge upset for the ruling party. The BJP campaign in Telangana has, however, lost some of the momentum of late and Congress has emerged as the main challenger to BRS. “A year ago, we had zero presence in this seat but today, we are a resurgent party. I am contesting this seat to instil confidence in our sup­porters and MLA candidates, and to teach a lesson to turncoats,” says Goud, seated in the front room of Jakkidi Prabhakar Reddy, a local leader who was among the aspirants for the seat. The pala­tial house is nearly empty, devoid of the turmoil of campaigning. “Prabhakar has been working for my campaign day and night—it is this kind of unity and brotherhood that Congress has tradition­ally been known for,” Goud says.

A Revanth Reddy, Congress’ most visible face in the state, and always raring for a fight, has thrown his hat into the ring in Kamareddy, a constituency in the erstwhile Nizamabad district pushed into the limelight after KCR announced his candidature from here. (Reddy is also contesting from Kodangal in Vikarabad district.) At the entrance to Kamareddy town, a squat housing block with broken windows and peeling paint stands like a for­gotten sentinel, thanks to delays in allotment under the state’s ‘Dignity Housing Scheme’ launched in 2015. Over 5.72 lakh families in Telangana are entitled to double-bedroom housing under the scheme, but allotments have been few and far between. “Delays plague every government programme and scheme. The machinery for construction of canals under the Kaleshwaram irrigation project lies rusted in Bhupally and Yacharam,” says K Venugopal, a retired teacher and advocate from Kamareddy. BRS leaders believe KCR picked Kamareddy to improve the party’s showing in the erstwhile Nizamabad district where it is currently perceived to be trailing in a few constituencies. “There is a large BC [Backward Classes] population here; among them nearly 40,000 are Mudirajus. We are largely ignored by BRS and Congress, who only pay lip-service during elections,” says 36-year-old Neela Nagaraj, the BC Sangham district president who runs an organic store in the town. Nagaraj is contesting as an independent from Kamareddy to protest political apathy towards the community.

BJP, which is putting up a serious fight in about 35 constituen­cies in erstwhile Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Adilabad and Mahbub­nagar districts besides Hyderabad, has made a bid for BC votes by declaring that a BC leader would be made chief minister if the party came to power. Etela Rajender, a Mudiraju leader and KCR’s former colleague who joined BJP last year, is seen as the saffron party’s chief ministerial face. He is contesting from Huzurabad where he is the sitting MLA, and from Gajwel against KCR on his home ground. “Congress and BRS will always exploit BCs. I am here to represent them and to present their concerns to the Union government,” he says. “People will not overlook the corruption of the KCR adminis­tration, especially after the report submitted by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) which has detailed the faults in the plan­ning and design of the Medigadda barrage on the Kaleshwaram irrigation project which was found to be damaged.”

“There was no proper inquiry as to why five piers in the sev­enth block of the Medigadda barrage—one of the three barrages on the Kaleshwaram project—were damaged. We will undertake a proper study along with the Geological Survey of India. Mean­while, L&T has offered to rebuild the seventh block at its own cost since we are still in the guarantee period. Congress and BJP have politicised this issue needlessly,” says Veeramalla Prakash Rao, a senior BRS leader and a water resources expert. Seven to 10 lakh farmers have benefited from the project already, he says. Cam­paign in-charge of Narsampet and Mulugu, Rao admits that the youth are inclined towards Congress, but says the older benefi­ciaries of government schemes will be the deciders. “Ultimately, the truth wins. And the truth is that KCR’s administration has put money in the hands of the people,” he says.

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