HYDERABAD: Caste and politics are many a time uttered in the same breath in India. Telangana is no different. Both Telagnana Rashtra Samithi and its primary Opposition party, Congress, have been trying to out do each other in terms of inclusion of candidates from all castes. TRS, being the ruling party looking for re-election, had an interesting challenge this time. While including previously neglected groups, it wanted to keep dissent at a minimum by letting most sitting MLAs retain their tickets.
However, the party seems to have balanced the scales well. It is has accommodated 29 candidates from Backward Castes, more than any other party. Initially, the party faced much criticism from the BC community for its decision to retain its candidates from 2014.
To address these concerns, it had left for itself a margin of 12 seats to work with (only 107 candidates were announced on the day of the Assembly dissolution). Over the next couple of months, TRS high command has pulled off small coups by attracting dissatisfied leaders from Congress and other parties. The most prominent name among these defectors is of Kodad-based Congress leader Bollam Mallaiah Yadav, a BC. While inducting Yadav into the party, TRS leader KT Rama Rao had said, “No other party supports BCs like our party chief K Chandrasekhar Rao. He will always support the community.”
The party has fielded 36 candidates from the Reddy community, six from the Kamma community and nine from the Velama — four of them from the Kalvakuntla family alone. The party has even found place for Brahmins, Vysyas and Rajputs this time.
Where are the women?
However, the ruling seems to have been unfair to the fairer sex this time as well, as it has fielded only four women candidates. In 2014, six women won on TRS tickets.
But, the TRS retained only four of them this time. The party was already under severe criticism for not inducting any women in the State Cabinet. The only solace was Padma Devender Reddy, the deputy Speaker in the previous Assembly.