By M H Ahssan
Carved out of the Medchal assembly segment in Ranga Reddy district, the new Uppal assembly constituency poses a unique challenge to electoral candidates. With a mix of people from Orissa, West Bengal, UP, Bihar and Kerala residing here, the area is called ‘mini India’ by local leaders.
Candidates of the Congress, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are struggling to please this vast variety of voters who are spread out in Cherlapally, Ramanthapur, Nacharam, Mallapur, EC Nagar and Habsiguda areas, where a large number of industries are located.
While Congress candidate Bandari Raji Reddy is campaigning with a convoy of half dozen vehicles and hundreds of party workers in colonies, the convoy of Mahakutami candidate TRS nominee M Yadagiri Reddy has both Telugu Desam and TRS party flags and is accompanied by a brass band. BJP candidate NVSS Prabhakar is also appealing for votes in various localities.
The Congress candidate is chanting the development mantra. “Give another chance to Congress to develop the constituency further,” he told voters. His TRS rival uses the ‘Telangana’ slogan, but also seeks votes for all round development of the segment. The constituency has four Industrial Development Areas (IDA), including Nacharam, Uppal, Cherlapally and Kushaiguda, with workers and middle-level officers in factories here comprising a sizable chunk of voters.
Land acquisition from the farmers is a serious issue in this election. The erstwhile Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (Huda) had issued a notification to acquire over 800 acres of land on the bank of the Musi river for real estate development under ‘Save Musi’ project. Most of the farmers affected are paragrass growers belonging to Uppal Bhagat and Ramanthapur Bhagat areas. They are up in arms against their land being taken forcibly. A proposal to give the farmers a share in the project by involving developers is pending with the government.
“The state government issued 800 GOs just before the election. Why did it not include a GO which helps the farmers?” demands BJP candidate N V S S Prabhakar. Others promise that either the farmers would be given a good deal or the land acquisition notification would be scrapped.
Here, residents also complain of drinking water problems and bad roads. “The Nacharam to Chilkanagar road got damaged a year ago. Motorists have a tough time on this three km stretch. Despite several requests to municipal authorities, it was not repaired as the area falls in IDA,” K Brahmanandam, a resident of Hema Nagar said.
Residents of a few colonies like Annapurna colony said their area was neglected as it was in Medchal constituency which was represented by T Devender Goud, once in TDP but now in Prajarajyam Party.
Another resident B Mrutyunjayam complains about how the opening of several wine shops in Hema Nagar colony has made the area unsafe for women.
However, Congress candidate Raji Reddy prefers to list out the development works he had implemented in Uppal and Kapra municipal circles. “As municipal chairman of Kapra I took up works like drinking water to the colonies, laying roads and providing other civic amenities,” Raji Reddy said. But his opponents insist that he has not been in active politics for the past 15 years as he was chairman of Kapra from 1987 to 1992. Besides, his age does not permit him to strive hard, they say. He defends himself saying, “Candidates of other parties do not even know the boundaries of constituency. I know each and every issue here, which is a big advantage.”
TRS candidate Yadagiri Reddy is banking on TDP’s strength in this area, calculating that since the erstwhile Uppal and Kapra municipalities had a TDP man for chairman, the TDP vote bank would help him.
The BJP candidate is also raising the issue of power cuts, that affects industrialists in this constituency. “I will see that the Gujarat model will be adopted in the state so that there will no power cut to industries. Apart from this 30,000 houses will be built for the poor in 100 days in my constituency,” Prabhakar promised.
PRP candidate A Narender is conducting his campaign in the constituency highlighting issues like rations for Rs 100, employment and other local problems.
FACT SHEET:
Total Voters | 3,28,499
Female | 1,54,127
Male | 1,74,372
Areas in the constituency: Uppal, Habsiguda, Ramanthapur, Nacharam, Mallapur, AS Rao Nagar, Kushaiguda, Chilkanagar, HMT Nagar, ECIL, Annapurna Colony, Raghavendra Nagar, SBH colony, Bhavani Nagar, Beerappa Gadda and other colonies.
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