Telangana election: Techies turn out to be important vote bank

Exclusive groups have been formed by political parties at areas like Serilingampally, Kukatpally, and Quthbullapur, where professionals can be found in large numbers.
Image for representational purpose.
Image for representational purpose.

HYDERABAD: From civic issues to the strengthening of labour laws so that retrenchments are contained, tech professionals with such issues are turning to be an important ‘vote bank’ for aspiring legislators ahead of the poll season. Exclusive groups have been formed by political parties at areas like Serilingampally, Kukatpally, and Quthbullapur, where professionals can be found in large numbers.

Take, for instance, All India Professional Congress (AIPC) Telangana, a group that exclusively talks about issues concerning working professionals, entrepreneurs, and the like.“They (professionals) will become the think tank for the party. Suggestions given by them will be used in policy making eventually. We want to do it like we did in Karnataka, where we took a lot of suggestions from professionals. We believe they will have important things to say,” said J Geetha Reddy, AIPC South convenor. Explaining further on the inclusions that would be made in the Congress manifesto, Rudra Santosh, State secretary of AIPC said: “we want labour laws to be strengthened. We want safeguards from the unpredictable nature of retrenchments that have rocked the IT sector.”

The BJP, on the other hand, is expecting to tilt voters to its side this time since it didn’t contest there in the last elections, owing to an alliance with the TTDP. Satish Katragadda, a former GM with Wipro and a BJP Medchal executive member alleged that people were very afraid of moving to Serilingampally division due to the traffic hassles.  “The IT sector is one of the highest contributors to State revenue and they are being ignored. There is every chance for us to pitch for votes on those lines,” Katragadda said. Meanwhile, the TRS is heavily banking on its star campaigner IT minister KT Rama Rao to be its face in defending the constituency.

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The New Indian Express
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