KHAMMAM: It has been an uphill battle for Tummala Nageswara Rao this time. The senior TRS leader is looking to get re-elected from Palair Assembly constituency, but his campaign has been a rough one till now. He has been met by extremely critical voters, who believe he has not represented them properly, or done enough to deserve another chance. To deal with this hostility, Rao has been going to houses door-to-door, meeting voters personally, to give his campaign a personal touch.
Nageswara Rao was once one of TDP’s tallest leaders in Telangana. In 2014, he was fielded by the party from Khammam, where he lost to Congress’ P Ajay Kumar. After State formation, Rao, like many other of his party men, abandoned the seemingly-sinking ship of TDP.
He was enthusiastically inducted into TRS by party chief KCR and was soon made a minister. Later, in a by-poll in 2016, he was elected from Palair on a TRS ticket. His association with the TRS party has been mutually beneficial — Rao prolonged his political career and remained an important leader while TRS established itself in a region that they had trouble in the past.
However, if people of Palair are to be believed, Nageswara Rao does not enjoy their wholehearted support. Rao’s behaviour, with both the people and the cadres, has been seen as ‘rude and arrogant’. Afraid of losing out to the combined might of the Grand Alliance parties, that have fielded Kandala Upender Reddy, Rao has now changed his ways. He has been on a door-to-door campaign, telling people of the things he has supposedly done for Palair. Speaking to Express, Rao says he will bring Godavari water to Palair if he wins.