HYDERABAD: Finance Minister T Harish Rao is confident that TRS nominee Gellu Srinivas will win the Huzurabad byelection hands down. He does not see any threat from former minister Eatala Rajender who is in the fray on a BJP ticket now. “The TRS won before Rajender and it will win after Rajender. He is not a factor at all in the poll battle,” Harish says.
In a short interview with TNIE, the Finance Minister says that the situation is quite conducive for the TRS to win the election. Apart from what Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has done for the State which benefited Huzurabad too, resentment among people against the saffron party would act as a tailwind for the TRS. No one is happy with the BJP after the steady increase in the price of diesel, petrol and LPG, he opines.
‘80% are with TRS’
Harish says there are indications that the TRS would win the election with effortless ease as 80 per cent of the people’s representatives in the Huzurabad constituency are with the party. In 2018, the BJP polled a little over just 1,600 votes which means it does not have any presence in the constituency, he points out.
The Minister is counting on the benefits, the welfare schemes have given the constituents. “Huzurabad is the earliest beneficiary of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS). In the last Rabi, farmers had ample water supply in their fields. This apart, we have schemes like Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Beema, Dalita Bandhu, 24×7 free power supply to farm wells and so on. The farmers are very happy with the TRS. They will not switch loyalties.”
‘Anger over fuel prices’
The Minister believes that the principal rival in the electoral battle is the BJP and not the Congress and sees a rising tide of resentment against the saffron party. “People are furious with the Centre for the new Electricity Act making fixing meters to the agriculture wells mandatory which the farmers do not like. They are also against the farm laws which the Centre has brought in, he says.
Even the women are unhappy because of the steep rise in the price of LPG. The price which used to be `450 per cylinder has gone up to `1,000 apart from subsidy on it being reduced to `40 from `250. Employees of central public sector undertakings are not happy with the BJP leadership because of its privatisation drive. Employees of BSNL, LIC and Postal Department are upset over the Centre trying to privatise their institutions, he says.
Covid on mind, ECI issues strict campaign rules
In the wake of Covid-19, the Election Commission of India has imposed some restrictions on the poll campaign. The guidelines for the Huzurabad bypoll are:
Indoor meeting: 30% of allowed capacity or 200 persons, whichever is less
Outdoor meeting: With 50% of capacity or 1,000 in the case of star campaigners and 50% of the capacity or 500 in all other cases. In both, the allowed number is whichever is less
Star campaigners: Number of star campaigners restricted to 20 for these byelections for National/State recognised parties and 10 for unrecognised registered parties
Road show: No road shows and no Motor/Bike/Cycle rallies to be allowed
Street corner meeting : Maximum 50 persons shall be allowed
Door-to-door campaign: Door-to-door campaign with 5 persons including candidates/their representatives
Campaign through video van: Not more than 50 people shall be allowed in one cluster point
Use of vehicles for campaign: 20 persons allowed per vehicle or 50% of the capacity
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