HYDERABAD: For the first time, the TRS will be contesting the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, which are due in October. The TRS’ poll ally, AIMIM, which already has its footprint in the neighbouring state, is keen on expanding it. It has one MLA, Waris Pathan, from Byculla in Mumbai, in the outgoing Assembly. The party’s nominee, Imtiyaz Jaleel, won the Lok Sabha election from Aurangabad in the recent polls. The AIMIM has already announced the names of three candidates for Assembly seats in the neighbouring state.
The TRS is more than likely to field leaders from Nanded district for the five Assembly segments. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao reportedly responded positively when a group of elected representatives from the five Assembly segments called on him at his office in the Assembly and requested him to field them in the elections.
‘Want TS schemes for Maha farmers’
The leaders from Nanded district told the chief minister that since they were interested in Telangana’s welfare schemes for farmers, they wanted him to field them on behalf of the TRS. They wanted the Maharashtra government to either implement the Telangana government’s schemes or merge their villages with Telangana so they could benefit from the schemes. The leaders told him that this demand would be central to their campaigning in the elections on TRS tickets. They were from Nalgaon, Bhokar, Degloor, Kinwat and Hathgaon Assembly segments in Nanded district.
Babli Sarpanch Babu Rao Ganapath Rao Kadam, who led the delegation, expressed anguish, saying that though their villages are contiguous with Telangana, the situation across the border is very different since farmers’ needs are taken care of in Telangana.They said that farmers in Telangana get `10,000 per acre as financial assistance under the Rythu Bandhu Scheme. “Our government is not implementing any scheme like this for our farmers. Poor people in Telangana get `2,016 per month as pension, while in Maharashtra, they get a meagre `600.
In Telangana, farmers get 24-hour uninterrupted free and quality power. In our state, we are promised eight hours of power supply, but in reality, we get only 6 hours,” the Babli sarpanch said.The farmers added: “We are in dire straits with regard to water for irrigation. There is no water in Babli village. When the Telangana government fills up the SRSP with water from the Kaleshwaram project, we get some benefit through the backwaters.”
“Against this backdrop, we are demanding that the Maharashtra government implement the welfare schemes being implemented by Telangana. If the Maharashtra government is not in a position to do so, we will demand that our villages be merged with Telangana. We will agitate with this demand, and contest the coming Assembly polls with this as our slogan,” the farmers said. The chief minister said that besides people from five Assembly segments of Nanded district, people are asking for TRS tickets from Bhiwandi, Sholapur, and Rajara. He said a decision on this would be taken shortly.