Concerned-sounding was Visheshwar Rao, a member of civil society who went to campaign for poet Gaddar’s daughter G Vennela in the Secunderabad cantonment seat. Rao stated, “I visited a semi-slum area and people told me that 12 BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) workers had been camping there for the past few days.”
This intensive canvassing is a reflection of the BRS and its strategists’ careful election preparation. A senior BRS officer, who wished to remain anonymous, stated while seated in the annex of chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s official residence, Pragati Bhavan: “Our booth-level poll management had started in September.” We have nominated individuals who have served as MLAs for at least one of the previous ten years for over one hundred seats. At the booth level, their teams are prepared.
The BRS released its list of candidates prior to the Election Commission announcing the poll calendar, allowing each contender to prepare their teams. The official claimed, “We were able to run a comprehensive campaign because of the early announcement of candidates.” “In September, every candidate finished their initial round of campaigning in their respective seats. In October and the beginning of November, they conducted two further rounds of canvassing. Our candidates are now meeting with voters four times ahead of the election.
Director of BR Ambedkar University Ghanta Chakrapani noted, “But the Congress has one major advantage, the appointment of Revanth Reddy as the party chief in the state.” “The Reddys, who are influential both socially and economically, want someone from their community to be in positions of power, and he has good connections with the youth.”
The selection of Revanth Reddy as the state party chief, however, gives the Congress a significant edge, as BR Ambedkar University director Ghanta Chakrapani said. “He has strong ties to the youth, and the Reddys, who are well-off both socially and economically, want a member of their community in positions of authority.”
Reddys are typically the wealthiest men in an area, according to another analyst, Sudhakar Gaud. They own wealth and are the main landowners. Even though the Reddy group makes up less than 5% of the state’s population, they have a significant impact on other villagers and farm laborers, according to Gaud.
However, the BRS employees noted that the Reddy community has benefited the most from Rythu Bandhu, the farmer input subsidy program. The majority of marginal farmers are Reddys. Small farmers make up the OBCs, or other backward classes. That’s why the initiative, which pays farmers ₹10,000 in two installments for each acre of land they own, has helped most of the Reddys, according to a functionary.
The BRS officials contended that the chief minister has established a decentralized system of governance and that MLAs and district judges regularly convene public hearings, despite the Congress’s attempt to draw attention to KCR’s protracted absence from the public eye during its campaign.
