Hyderabad: The government of Telangana in general and the TRS party, in particular, is keen on proving its mettle through a litmus test called Huzurabad by-elections. Though the ruling party is not revealing that it was banking on the scheme, it introduced for various sections of the society the TRS strategists are calculating the numbers of beneficiaries that are listed among the voters of the Huzurabad electorate.
Banking on that number, only the party policymakers are feeling that the TRS would secure more than 70 thousand votes at a stretch from the beneficiaries quota. In addition to this number, the 25 thousand families listed in the newly floated Dalit Bandhu scheme of the Chief Minister were also added among the possible voters by the TRS in its kitty.
About 2.25 voters form the Huzurabad segment of Telangana that is going to polls on October 30 and the last time the TRS has retained this seat with a sizeable margin of over seventy-five thousand votes majority over its Congress rival Padi Kaushik Reddy.
Last time, the scheme beneficiaries were listed among the positive voters by the ruling party and that of course helped that party gain an upper hand in the segment. This time the Congress party has fielded a weak candidate and its vote share of more than 65 thousand electorates are unlikely to continue for the party nominee Balmuri Venkat.
Though the ruling party is feeling that these sixty-five thousand votes would fetch them the upper hand, the BJP nominee and local strategist Eeetala Rajender is also hoping for similar support from that electorate. BJP has just secured thirty-five hundred votes last time but since a sympathy wave is breezing across the segment for Etela Rajinder, that party is certain to surpass previous figures.
TRS nominee Gellu Srinivas Reddy is a local student leader and the surveys conducted by independent agencies reveal that the support he enjoys among the beneficiaries of various government schemes would certainly fetch him sizeable votes. They speculate that if Srinivas Yadav wins the seat, he would secure a margin of five thousand given the quantum of beneficiaries' support.
However, one more speculation is there that BJP nominee would romp home with sympathy wave, and if such a situation clicks Etela may secure more than forty to fifty thousand votes majority. Although the TRS is keen on cutting the size of the Congress vote bank, a weakened Congress would ultimately help the BJP nominee, the surveys felt.
If Congress gets more than ten thousand votes in the present election that number would ultimately help the TRS nominee to reduce the sympathy votes, the survey teams felt.
While these speculations are rife, the TRS government has announced that the sops announced for Dalits would be expanded to all the states. Chief Minister KCR announced that Rs 20,000 crore would be allocated in the next budget for the Dalit Bandhu scheme.
