ADILABAD: As the primate problem continues to be a major poll plank in the panchayat elections, an aspirant for the sarpanch post has come up with a novel idea to win over the voters in Dandapelli of Mancherial district.
With the village frequently being besieged by a small army of monkeys, which terrify the local residents, destroying their crops and attacking their residences, the demand to resolve the issue has been growing ever since the sarpanch election schedule was announced in the state. The villagers, in fact, staged a protest over this issue last week.
In view of this, sarpanch post aspirant A Rajeshwar has decided to seek votes by promising to address the problem. The Congress-backed candidate is not just making promises but showing how he will deal with this issue. To prove that he means business, Rajeshwar is campaigning with two langurs, brought from the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, in the village, both to the surprise and amusement of local residents.
It is believed that monkeys are afraid of langurs though there is no evidence to prove this. One also wonders if the ban imposed by the Election Commission on the use of live animals in previous elections applies to these panchayat polls.
Offers aplenty
Meanwhile, sarpanch post aspirants in other villages are also coming up with several hitherto unimagined offers to lure the voters.
In Udumpur, a candidate promised to provide financial support to perform funerals in case of deaths in the village. In Kadam gram panchayat, Laxman, who has also served as the sarpanch in the past, promised to provide `5,000 assistance to every future girl child born in the village.
In Rampur, D Geetha is promising free power supply to mills where wheat and jowar are ground into flour. Interestingly, this sarpanch post aspirant also runs a flour mill in the village.
The panchayat elections will be held in three phases on December 11, 14 and 17.
Unanimous poll in 8 villages
Rajanna-Sircilla: Eight out of 35 villages in Illanthakunta mandal have elected their sarpanches unanimously. They are Chikkuduvanipalle (Chintamadaka Kalyan), Galipalli (Baddam Shekar Reddy), Tippapur (Bolaveni Manjula), Kistaraopally (Jakkula Mallavva), Keshanapalli (Potaraju Chanti), Muskanipeta (K Bhaskar Reddy), Jangareddipalli (Panduga Sunitha) and Pattikunta (Jattu Shekar).