Telangana statehood issue to dominate Andhra polls

The issue of separate statehood to Telangana continues to dominate the political arena in Andhra Pradesh, going for simultaneous polls this month and it has once again stirred up the hurt feelings of the backward region which will have a telling effect at the hustings.

Telangana seems to have a profound influence in the polls and it can spell nemesis or enable political parties to ride on a colossus depending on which side of the fence a party is.

The backward region, which was ruled by the feudal Nizams and joined the Indian Union one full year after the country attained Independence, has 15 Lok Sabha and 107 Assembly seats of the total 42 and 294 constituencies in the state.

While the TDP made its stand clear that it favours a united state which only can pave way for development, its ally BJP was forced to oblige the stand.

BJP, otherwise wants smaller states and had passed a resolution in one of its state council meetings for a separate Telangana. Being a junior partner, it has now shelved the issue and is toeing the TDP line.

TRS, formed to achieve statehood to the region, is riding high after the massive response it got from various sections of the people across the region. Congress, which did not openly supported or opposed Telangana, has joined hands with the TRS and the combination has turned out to be a formidable one going by the response and the reaction of opposition parties.

The two parties did face uproarious scenes and dissent with the Congress losing some of its sitting seats to TRS, whose cadres were disappointed by the meagre 42 Assembly and six Lok Sabha seats, allotted through the pact.

During the previous Telangana agitation led by Marri Chenna Reddy and his outfit Telangana Praja Samiti (TPS), which later merged with the Congress, had won all the Lok Sabha seats.

Telangana, part of the erstwhile Hyderabad state comprising Maratwada region, Bidar and Gulbarga districts of Karnataka, was merged into Andhra state on linguistic basis on November 1, 1956.

The region was liberated in September 1948 by the then deputy prime minister Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel in a police action.

Armed struggle and rebellion has been the inherent feature of this backward region which has embraced naxalism and was in the forefront of left wing extremism since mid 80s.

Deprived of any marginal irrigation source and lack of enterprising farmers and employment generating industrial units, people of the region made little or no progress and their standard of living was poor compared to those in the rich delta areas.

Former prime minister Indira Gandhi contested the Medak Lok Sabha seat from this region during the Janata wave in 1977 and the constituency was rewarded with an ordinance factory and a few welfare schemes.

The regional imbalances have always been the cause of heartburn and recent spurt of immigrants from coastal areas to state capital and the "expansionist attitude of the TDP" were channelised to whip up regional feelings by protagonists of Telangana who contend that "people from coastal plains have been flourishing with the help of the TDP which neglected Telangana".

A mixture of various feelings, this volatile region has quintessential Telangana natives in Warangal and Karimnagar districts while Maharastrian influence sweeps across Adilabad. Medak has a pinch of Kannada in its dialect. Khamamam and Nizamabad are considered to be the land for settlers, mostly from coastal plains, while Nalgonda, though very much in Telangana, has an air of Andhra culture.

Mahboobnagar district in the south is away from all influences and still remains as the most backward districts.

If the Congress-TRS combine can impress the people of Adilabad and Mahboobnagar, the two districts where the TDP is supposed to be strong, it can be a a major victory for Telangana.