Rama Krishna Sangem
BRS boss and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is getting ready for Telangana assembly elections to be held in December. His Cabinet decisions on July 31, Monday point to this. Being an incumbent chief minister, KCR is leaving no room for complacency or carelessness. This should be a cause of worry for the opposition Congress and BJP which are trying to defeat him.
If we go by the BRS government decisions for the last few months,it is clear that KCR is addressing aspirations of each section of society – from farmers to employees to workers – and each segment of governance – welfare to development and urban to rural or even tribal areas. These moves will not only fulfill demands of people, but also gives an impression that government is not sleeping.
These measures will fetch KCR votes. As per a back of envelop calculation, he has reached out to at least 6 to 10 lakh families in the last few months. The move to merge RTC’s 43,373 employees into government will definitely fulfill their long pending demand. A few weeks ago, he distributed “Podu” lands pattas to around 5.2 lakh tribals. Around 5 lakh differently abled people got a pension hike to Rs 4,016 per month.
A few days back, the CM taken absorbed around 20,000 village revenue assistants into government departments – a boon to them all. Now the stage is set for handing over of double bedrooms to the rural and urban poor – estimated to be around 1.2 lakh. This process will take place in August-September. Rythu Bandhu and Dalita Bandhu are ongoing programmes of this government and they will be given a push in the coming months too.
15-20 lakh voters to benefit
All these measures will bring feel good mood in these families – close to 10 lakh of them. According to officials, at least 15 -20 lakh voters will benefit from the government decisions. This is not a small number in keenly contested elections where many multi cornered contests are expected. I am not saying each and everyone who benefits out of government decisions will vote for KCR. But, at least 60 – 75 per of them will vote.
So, what’s left for Opposition?
Both opposition parties – Congress and BJP – will have to work hard to get more votes and seats. It’s not that every problem of people has been solved by KCR. But, the opposition may have to battle hard to expose those issues and get support of the left out sections – those who miss the governmental benefits. However, they should not forget KCR is in a poll ready mode. He will take some more decisions to reach those uncovered sections, in the days to come!
