KAMAREDDY: The foundation plaque of Pranahita- Chevella, the mega lift irrigation project designed to quench the thirst of the people and the fields, has gathered much dust.Jai Telangana slogans, written over it at the height of the agitation, are still visible.The foundation for the project was laid by the then chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy on December 14, 2008 in this commercial town in Nizamabad district.The town is situated about 110 km from the state capital and about 55 km from the district headquarters.The dusty plaque is a standing testimony to the negligence of irrigation sector in the district.Apart from the inherent Telangana sentiment, the major mundane problem of irrigation and drinking water shortage will decide the fate of the candidates in the by-election to be held for the Assembly seat on March 18.Kamareddy is a big business centre in Nizamabad district and is also an agriculture centre.The two main commercial crops - sugarcane and turmeric - have not yielded much profits to farmers this time.The town is also known for a large number of migrants to the Gulf in search of livelihood.The Pranahita-Chevella project is proposed to irrigate around 3 lakh acres in Nizamabad district, providing water to 299 villages in 19 mandals.The estimated cost of the project’s portion that falls in the district is `3,450 crore and was supposed to be completed by the end of December this year.But the project is yet to be grounded.Apart from the above, caste factor too comes into play at the time of elections.But dominating all the issues is the love for Telangana.“We want our Telangana.Our love for it is eternal,” says, G Nagaraju, a government teacher.The repeated bypolls in the name of Telangana are not received well by the voters.“Tell me, will I get remunerative price for sugarcane if Gampa Govardhan changes the party and is elected on TRS ticket? His election will not get us Telangana state,” says Narendrachary, a farmer from Devunipalli.Several villagers in Machareddy want TDP candidate Nittu Venugoal to dig tubewells so that they quench their thirst during summer.The election code has come to the rescue of Venugopal, and he neither funded the borewell nor gave any assurance.The situation is similar in several villages.Adequate safe drinking water has been the long-cherished dream of Telangana.Voters do not seem to be enthusiastic about the byelections.They are passive and seem not to care which party will win or lose.“To us it is just one more election,” Bhaskar, a cobbler, remarks.All said, the TDP candidate is enjoying a good support here as Kamareddy, which is dominated by settlers, has always been a TDP’s citadel.TRS’ Gampa Govardhan, is lacking cadre support unlike in the 2009 election.He is depending on the Telangana sentiment and the charisma of party chief K Chandrasekhar Rao.By admitting TRS Politburo member Yousaf Ali into his party, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu has settled scores with KCR and is compensating the loss suffered with the exit of Govardhan.Yousaf Ali’s entry would fetch some minority votes to the TDP in the elections.As for the poll planks, the TRS, as usual, is harping on statehood for Telangana while the TDP is focusing on Pranahita- Chevella, Gulf migrants’ problems, agrarian crisis, drinking water shortage.Congress candidate Yedla Raji Reddy claims that formation of a separate Telangana state will be possible only with the patronage of the Congress.`` I have lost my job for the sake of Telangana.The Congress government at the Centre will deliver Telangana state by 2014,” Raji Reddy tries to impress the voters with his claim.The claims of the candidates and their campaigners notwithstanding, voters, of whom employees, teachers and youth form a large chunk, are likely to vote for ‘Telangana’.“Though, we have reservations about the functioning of TRS, we decided to vote for TRS to sustain the separatist movement.If the movement is diluted now, it is very difficult to revive it in future,” Nallamlli Narasimhulu, a student, says.Teachers and students, the hardcore supporters of Telangana separatism, are too busy with academics and examinations to take active participation in election campaigning
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