Grand Alliance may maul Congress in Telangana

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Odds are loaded heavily against the ruling Congress party as Andhra Pradesh goes for simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly in the first phase on April 16.
In the first phase, 22 Lok Sabha and 154 Assembly constituencies will go to polls on Thursday.
Though there is no anti-incumbency against the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government, the coming together of the four main opposition parties – TDP, TRS, CPI and CPM – has dealt a certain blow to the Congress. New entrant Praja Rajyam Party of actor Chiranjeevi failed to capitalize on good openings as it faltered in the mid-course as well as towards the climax.
Its constant indifference on the contentious Telangana issue is going to prove costly for the Congress as it is set to lose majority of the 119 Assembly seats and 17 Lok Sabha seats in the region where polling is scheduled for Thursday.
The Congress is expected to win about 35-40 Assembly seats leaving the rest to the TDP-led Grand Alliance. PRP and BJP may have little impact to make in the region.
In the three north coastal Andhra districts where too polling will be held on Thursday for 35 Assembly and five Lok Sabha seats, the Congress and the Grand Alliance seem to be equally balanced though the latter has some edge over the former.
Fate of three Union ministers – S Jaipal Reddy, Renuka Choudary and Daggubati Purandeswari – will be decided in the first phase election. TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, former Union ministers K Yerran Naidu, Bandaru Dattatreya, Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Assembly Speaker K R Suresh Reddy, APCC president D Srinivas, CPI national deputy secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, PRP leader T Devender Goud and a host of state ministers too are in the fray in the first leg.
Lok Satta Party president N Jayaprakash Narayan is facing elections for the first time from Kukatpally Assembly constituency in Greater Hyderabad. He is the favourite to win this seat in this election.
Of the three Union ministers, Renuka Choudary is facing a tough time in Khammam Lok Sabha constituency where, as per current indications, she is all set to lose. Despite moving to new constituencies, both Jaipal Reddy and Purandeswari are expected to have a smooth sailing. Chandrasekhar Rao is a favourite to win the Mahboobnagar Lok Sabha seat while Yerran Naidu and Dattatreya too are comfortably placed.
The Congress is solely banking on the individual benefit schemes like old-age pensions, housing and health insurance that it introduced in the last five years of its rule. The Grand Alliance, on the other hand, has pinned its hopes on the Cash Transfer Scheme, Youth Empowerment Scheme and other freebies promised by the Telugu Desam Party, which is desperately seeking to come back to power. Of course, by taking a clear stand on the Telangana issue the Grand Alliance has scored points over the Congress which continues to dodge the issue. Though it promised to create a “social Telangana”, the PRP could not cut much ice in the region. Besides, the allegations of ticket sale have left the nine-month-old party totally battered just ahead of the crucial elections.
The BJP, by promising to create a separate Telangana state in 100 days if the NDA is voted back to power at the Centre, is also desperate to regain lost glory in the region.
In north coastal Andhra, the PRP was seen an emerging force that could strongly mar the prospects of both the Congress and the Grand Alliance and bag a good number of seats given the mass appeal of Chiranjeevi as also the caste equations in the region. But the initial euphoria seemed to have died down as the actor’s party was left with a lot of egg on its face over the selection of candidates. The Grand Alliance has re-emerged strongly in districts like Srikakulam and Vizianagaram, where the TDP yielded lot of ground to the Congress in the last election. The widespread corruption charges against two ministers in these districts and the growing dominance of their families in the Congress have antagonized not only the common people but also the party rank and file. This could leave a telling impact on the outcome of the elections.