Kamareddy Constituency: A Three-Cornered Contest
Kamareddy going to witness a tough three-cornered fight between BRS president and Chief Minister of Telangana K. Chandrasekar Rao (KCR), Congress president A Revanth Reddy and BJP”s K Venkata Ramana Reddy, former chairman of Nizamabad zilla parishad.
Kamareddy is a town and one of the four constituencies in Kamareddy district. It consists of six mandals namely, Kamareddy, Machareddy, Domakonda, Bhiknoor, Bibipet and Rajampet. According to the Election Commission, the constituency comprises 2,45,822 voters — 1,27,080 women, 1,18,718 men and 24 voters from third gender. Among the total population, over 60 per cent constitute Backward Classes (BC) where Mudiraja community forms the majority, followed by Munnuru-Kapu and Golla-Kuruma. In Kamareddy, the SC and ST communities add up to 10-15 per cent of the population and remaining population belong to forward castes.
In Kamareddy, Gampa Govardhan of BRS (then TRS) won elections as an MLA five times in 1994, 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2018. When Gampa Govardhan dropped from the seat, BRS chief decided it as his second seat, besides contesting from his traditional constituency, Gajwel. For KCR, Kamareddy assembly constituency is a native spot since he was born in Konapur village in maternal grandparents” house. In a move to directly confront KCR, Revanth Reddy decided to challenge him from Kamareddy, aside contesting from his home turf, Kodangal. Thereby, former Congress Minister Mohammad Ali Shabbir has been moved to Nizamabad Urban constituency. Revanth Reddy plans to mobilise the anti-incumbency sentiment, but his presence as an “outsider” than the Mohammad Ali Shabbir posing challenge to Congress. On the other hand, Ramana Reddy possess advantage as a local, and has popularity across communities. Thus, “local versus outsider” become a poll narrative of BJP while campaigning. He releases a personal manifesto which promises free medical treatment and education, and farmer welfare programmes, if he come to power.
The key issues Kamareddy faces include lack of irrigation facilities where people are hoping that government would implement few schemes to ease their distress. Another issue in discussion is the government’s plan to acquire their agricultural lands under the Kamareddy Municipality Master Plan for development purposes. However, the plan currently is in “abolished” state since farmers threatened to file more than 100 nominations against KCR as “protest” over the master plan issue. Besides, the condition of Kamareddy town’s Rythu Bazaar (integrated farmer’s market), requirement of a two-storey new integrated market building, and lack of infrastructure facilities in schools are some other woes that Kamareddy people are raising.
The otherwise low-key constituency, Kamareddy gathered headlines due to the presence of A-list candidates. Which one, anti-incumbency, pro-incumbency, or local versus outsider narrative, going to influence the election? The results will tell.
