Lagadapati Rajagopal is constantly in the news for his electoral predictions and unfortunately, it remains his only credential for hogging media attention.

Speaking to the media in Tirupati, Lagadapati had declared that 8 to 10 ‘Independent’ candidates will win the election in Telangana and named two of them: Bahujan Left Front (BLF) candidate K Shiva Kumar Reddy from Narayanapet constituency in Mahbubnagar district, a Congress rebel candidate, and Anil Jadhav who is contesting as an independent candidate in Boath in Adilabad district.

Yesterday, he named three more candidates who will win the polls according to his survey: G Vinod from Bellampally, Jalandhar Reddy from Makhtal and Mal Reddy from Ibrahimpatnam.KCR has already dismissed Lagadapati’s predictions as ‘the handiwork of ‘sannasulu’ (useless fellows) who had made all out efforts to scuttle Telangana agitation in the past.

KCR called upon the people not to believe in such surveys terming them baseless.Putting aside the credibility of these surveys, what one fails to understand is how the Election Commission is taking no action against Rajagopal for naming people who will win.As per rule, no one is supposed to do that until polling is over i.e. December 7.

When Lagadapati is mentioning the names of the candidates, is it not unfair to the other contestants in those constituencies? Is this not influencing the mindsets of the voters?What for? A few minutes of coverage in the media? It is surprising to see a seasoned politician like Lagadapati behaving in this fashion.

With indications emerging that no party will be getting the required majority on their own in the Telangana Assembly polls to form the government, the focus has now shifted to ‘post- poll management’ to grab power by purchasing MLAs.

The Congress-led Mahakutami which gave tough fight to TRS in ‘pre poll management’ by splurging huge money on public meetings, campaigning, media management, media advertisements etc is now gearing up for a ‘master post- poll management strategy ‘ to give TRS a run for its money.

Thanks to the support of ruling parties in neighbouring States AP and Karnataka, there is no dearth of money for Mahakutami in Telangana.Both the governments of AP and Karnataka are pumping in huge money into Telangana to defeat TRS at any cost.

Their money power is already being witnessed by one and all with Mahakutami keeping TRS on its toes with extensive campaigning and publicity.Now, with just a week left for elections and the subsequent results on December 11, the Mahakutami has reportedly kept ready, a Rs 1,000- crore package to lure MLAs from other parties and independent candidates, in case it falls short of the required majority to form the government.

Just as the BJP was prevented from forming the government in Karnataka in May this year despite emerging as the single largest Party, the Mahakutami is hopeful of a similar repeat in Telangana.

The Congress Party is notorious for infighting and at any given time, there exist a number of factions within the Party vying for control.Naturally, with 2018 polls just round the corner, the various groups led by Komatireddy brothers, Jana Reddy, DK Aruna, Uttam Kumar, new-entrant Revanth Reddy are all contenders for the top prize of CM.

However, Party supremo Rahul Gandhi in an informal communiqué has apparently made it clear that if the Maha Kootami wins the election, Uttam Kumar Reddy will be the Chief Minister.What worked in Uttam’s favour are his non-controversial nature, loyalty and ability to work silently without tying to hog all the attention unlike some of the other leaders in the Party.

From being labeled as a Party without a charismatic leader to take on KCR, the Congress has slowly come to a position of Uttam Kumar Reddy-led Congress and that is quite a commendable achievement.In all fairness though, Revanth Reddy has had an equal role to play in the favourable winds billowing the way of the Party and he has emerged as the Chief Mascot for the grand old party.

After coming to power in 2014, Chandrababu Naidu had formed the Brahmin and Kapu Corporations as both these communities had voted for the TDP in the election. But now, the Corporations are divided houses beset with infighting.

In 2019, the Brahmin community which is traditionally a Congress supporter in AP, voted in large numbers for TDP because of the Modi wave and the fact that AP needed an experienced CM. But things have soured badly and the community is now rallying behind YS Jagan.

In fact, IYR Krishna Rao was Chairman of the Brahmin Corporation resigned and has since been a vocal critic of the real-estate venture Amaravati.Similarly, Kapus voted for TDP because of Pawan Kalyan. Now, Pawan has parted ways with the TDP and they will vote for Jana Sena.

So, there is a situation where the Brahmin and Kapu Corporation leaders are trying to attract their communities to the TDP fold whereas the general mood is in favour of YSRCP and Jana Sena.The infighting along political lines is spilling over on to the social media with Corporation members publicly targeting one another.

Creation of such Corporations is a wrong thing in the first place. There are many castes and communities and the leader of the State should try to bring in policies that will benefit everyone to the maximum possible effect.

Such institutions will only underscore the differences rather than integrate. KCR did the same thing in Telangana with a Bhavan for each caste. Let Andhra not make the same mistake.Let us not have Corporations based on caste but only on the basis of economic backwardness. That will be more beneficial to society.