Not far from this town which boasts of booming professional colleges, on a narrow, but well-tarred road leading to Tenali, a group of daily wagers rest from their labour, preparing to catch “autos” that will take them back to their village of Amartalur.
Their village is at some distance and they spend Rs 25 a head for the two-way trip which eats into the Rs 150 they make for cutting and manually threshing the rice crop standing in the fields. Some of them have smallish holdings but their income from that needs to be supplemented. All of them are Malas, a sizable dalit caste in the state.
As the conversation starts, one of them points to the group of 20-odd men and women and says, “Bhai sa’ab, all of us are voting for Congress.” This is a double surprise. For one, Hindi is rarely spoken or understood in these parts. Then, it is unusual for people to readily divulge voting preferences — such prompt revelations can be suspicious.
The interlocutor, who has picked up his Hindi at a Hyderabad business, does not want to give out his name, but his views seem to be shared by others around him. More predictably, the Malas complain of receiving only partial benefits of various government schemes. Not all of them got loan waivers; of they claim that only better-off farmers took advantage of them.
Yet, for all their gripes, the group has received some benefits. One said a son’s fees were waived even as the interlocutor admitted a few had received state-backed medical help. At the same time, they spoke of rising costs of dals, palm oil and rice outside the “white card” scheme.
Does their lack of enthusiasm mean they could consider other options, like TDP which has promised a cash transfer scheme? Most unlikely, says the “spokesman” who points out that the Malas are reluctant to experiment and snap their long affiliation with the Congress.
It is the same story elsewhere as in Sitarampur in Krishna district where women working in farmer Abbulu’s fields make it evident that Congress is their party.
But even with largely pro-Congress dalits, there are exceptions like the Malas at Pallipulem who complain of incomes being eaten away by the “price rise” in food items. They clearly favour the TDP. Though they perhaps represent a small section of dalits, their annoyance with high cost of rice in particular can be worrying for the ruling party.
Just as dalits look likely to stick by the Congress, the party can possibly bank on a large chunk of Muslims voting for it as well. At Parachuru in Prakasam district, Mohammed Hanif and Mastan Ali argue that they would like to see Congress lead the government at the Centre. They have a similar preference for the state and feel that the possibility of a split ticket was unlikely. Though chief minister Rajasekhara Reddy’s promise of a 4 % Muslim quota is stuck in the courts, they are hopeful that it will eventually come their way.
The trend in Muslim preferences seems to favour the Congress though TDP will get a larger chunk of minority support as compared to the dalit vote. In an election that has seen Congress’s front-runner status being steadily eroded, these two major vote banks are factors in keeping the party’s hopes afloat. Realising this, TDP has gone all out to woo these sections as it challenges Congress for top honours.
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