Satyanaryana Reddy
KHAMMAM: As much as Rs 100 crore was wagered on cockfights during the three-day Makara Sankranti festivities in border villages of Andhra Pradesh, situated less than a kilometre from the Aswaraopet Assembly constituency in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, said sources.
With restrictions by the Telangana government and police crackdown on cockfighting continuing across the state, businesspersons and politicians from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai, apart from the US and UAE, flocked down to Andhra Pradesh to take part in the cockfights and betting events.
J Raghava, a senior management member of a Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm, said he has been coming to cockfights for a few years now and enjoys them thoroughly. However, he lamented that he had lost Rs 60,000 in betting.
According to sources, Jeelugumilli, Kamayyapalem, Bhudevipeta and Kukunoor villages in AP hosted several massive cockfight events during the three-day period. A large number of women were also seen in the audience.
A Bengaluru-based IT professional D Sumathi said she saw cockfights for the first time. “I even won Rs 10,000 by betting,” she added. Thousands of people from Telangana witnessed the cockfights at Kamaiahpalem, Puchikapadu, Tatisubbannagudem and Papidigudem villages.
S Venkatesh, who works with a software company in Hyderabad, said “‘I have been witnessing cockfights for the last few years. Nothing is certain, people might win big first but lose all of it at the next instant.”
Shortage of liquor
As alcohol freely flowed amid the backdrop of the blood sport, numerous belt shops established near the cockfight venues ran out of stock earlier than anticipated. A belt shop organiser, K Nagaraju, said many liquor brands are unavailable in AP and so many people visited belt shops in Telangana to get their hands on those particular brands