HUZURNAGAR: It is development versus development in the fiercely fought Huzurnagar Assembly bypoll. The voters have to choose between the development done by TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy in the last 15 years and the development activities as well as the welfare schemes, like Aasara pensions and Rythu Bandhu, initiated and implemented by the TRS government in the last six years.
Though there are 28 candidates in the fray, TRS’ S Saidi Reddy and Congress’ N Padmavathi Reddy are locked in a neck and neck fight. Interestingly, the voters are very much impressed with the development works taken up by Uttam Kumar Reddy. “When he was Housing Minister, he constructed around 5,000 houses. Eighty per cent of the houses are occupied by the beneficiaries. I am also one of the beneficiaries,” V Vinod, an unemployed youth, said.
Vinod, however, is unhappy with the State government as he failed to get a job locally. “KCR promised one lakh jobs, but he failed to provide them so far,” Vinod said. However, his wife is happy with the TRS government as she got KCR Kit recently. She is all praise for KCR. But Vinod rued that she did not get `12,000 that was promised along with KCR Kits. But the loyalist of the Congress and a fan of Uttam Kumar Reddy finally said that this time the TRS candidate may win by a slender margin as Uttam Kumar Reddy is not in the fray.
“It is a tight fight between the TRS and the Congress. One cannot ignore the development taken up by Uttam Kumar Reddy,” Raju an auto-rickshaw driver said. “See the central lighting in Huzurnagar. The dividers and the blacktop road. The permanent buildings for the court, the Tahsildar office and others were constructed during his tenure. I am happy to drive my auto on the tar road,” he said, while recalling that how dusty the Huzurnagar main road used to be in the past.
Dangerous bridge
However, the people in Mellacheruvu have a lot of complaints. Pointing to the dilapidated bridge over the branch canal of Nagarjuna Sagar left canal, the villagers said that “no one repaired it in the last six years. It may collapse at any time”.A landlord donated `2 crore worth land for the construction of a hospital. “We have been waiting for the construction of a big hospital. We cannot go to Kodad or Hyderabad every time to meet a doctor,” Korlapati Sambahaih said.
Another youth, Lakkokula Parusuram, complained that there was no junior college in Mellacheruvu and students are going either to Khammam or Hyderabad for higher studies. “We have two cement factories here. We need a hospital and a junior college,” several villagers said.
No Mission Bhagiratha
Interestingly, Mission Bhagiratha was not implemented in Mellacheruvu. When Uttam Kumar Reddy was minister, he implemented a drinking water scheme. “We need piped water for every house. There are no tap connections to houses now. Due to political reasons, the Mission Bhagiratha was not taken up in the village,” another villager said.
In Marrigudem, Venka Ramamma said that she was getting Aasara pension. “Do you think my choice will be other than ‘car’?,” she shot back when asked who will be her choice this time. Madichetti Kittamma (70) initially refused to divulge her choice. Later, she said ‘car’, as she was getting Aasara pension.It remains to be seen whether the voters would once again express their gratitude to Uttam Kumar Reddy or elect the TRS candidate for more development in the next four years.
Changing colours
Huzurnagar: In order avoid the attention of the Election Commission officials, several parties changed their colours in ‘true spirit’. Instead of their party flag colour, the activists of a political party are seen wearing scarfs with different colours. This is to ensure that their expenditure would not be accounted for in their party candidate’s account. Though it is not their party’s colour, the workers wore red scarfs and took out a rally on Tuesday. Another party planned to organise several roadshows but decided to against it, fearing its candidate’s expenditure may cross the limit set by the Election Commission of India