Divine intervention or land parcels: What attracted KCR to Kamareddy?

Ragula Bhudevi (35), wife of a marginal farmer working as a cotton picker near Lingapur, a village on the outskirts of Kamareddy town, is clueless about Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao's intention to contest from Kamareddy besides the Gajwel Assembly constituency.

“Will KCR acquire our lands?” she asks innocently, referring to the Municipal Masterplan now kept in limbo following massive protests by farmers.

Though she is happy that her family, with its one-acre land, benefits from the Rythu Bandhu scheme that gives her Rs 10,000 a year as investment assistance, she fears losing land under the Kamareddy Masterplan if KCR is elected as MLA.

A government school teacher from Tekriyal, another Masterplan village, is certain that KCR will bring back the Masterplan after election. Limbadri, a farmer of Adloor, is also worried that KCR, if elected, will lift the ban on the Masterplan. Adloor is a village in the neighbouring Yellareddy constituency but its lands fall in Kamareddy constituency.

Abdul Mustaq (40), who owns a roadside eatery, is also convinced that people would have to forego land as it happened in the Chief Minister’s Gajwel constituency.

Fear of Masterplan

The fear of the Masterplan is palpable in villages. In January 2023, farmers from eight villages revolted against the Kamareddy Municipal Masterplan which requires farmers to forego their land for the proposed industrial, green and recreational zones. The movement grew fiercer with all political parties backing the farmers. Sensing the mood, the government put the plan on hold.

The strident opposition by farmers and subsequent withdrawal of the Masterplan has enlightened the voters so well that Municipal minister and KCR’s son KT Ramarao had to publicly clarify that his father is not coming to Kamareddy constituency to grab land from poor farmers.

KCR says he has chosen Kamareddy, located on NH 44, 120 km away from Hyderabad, only because he was touched by the request of outgoing MLA Gampa Goverdhan to contest from the seat. “I could not resist it as my mother’s ancestral village Posanipeta, now called Konapur, is a part of Kamareddy,” he said.

On the other hand, state Congress president A Revanth Reddy, who is contesting against KCR in Kamareddy, is emphatic that the CM has chosen the constituency with an eye on farmers’ land.

Addressing an ‘OBC Garjana’ after filing nomination in Kamareddy on November 10, Revanth said KCR had an ulterior motive. “See the plight of farmers of Mallanna Sagar, Ranganayaka Sagar and Konda Pochamma projects. Farmers lost their valuable land to KCR without proper compensation. KCR built a 1,000-acre farmhouse near Gajwel. Now he is entering Kamareddy to transform it into another Gajwel,” said Revanth, also an MP from Malkagiri.

The opposition

Similarly, BJP candidate Katipalli Venkatarama Reddy, who has lost election twice, has been campaigning for the rights of the farmers since January. When The Federal visited the constituency, many said that Reddy was instrumental in forcing the government to put the Masterplan on hold by mobilising farmers.

“How did KCR suddenly find an ancestral connection with Kamareddy? Why did it take 10 years for KCR to discover that the constituency has no water for irrigation? It is not the love for Kamareddy people, it is the love for land in the constituency that brought him to Kamareddy,” Reddy tells The Federal.

What is clear is that a KCR model of development versus displacement battle is raging in Kamareddy. Many in the town agree that a win there is more important for the Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS), KCR's party, than in Gajwel, which KCR has been representing since 2014.

K Venugopal, a retired teacher and former leader of a teachers’ union, is confident that Kamareddy will become another model constituency in Telangana if KCR wins. “Development is not possible without a few people sacrificing lands for the projects,” he observes.

For the first time in the Telugu states, Opposition parties have dispatched their strong candidates to take on the Chief Minister. BJP has pitted Eatala Rajender, MLA from Huzurabad, and KCR’s friend-turned-foe to fight the latter in Gajwel. Similarly, the Congress has told Revanth to take on KCR in Kamareddy in addition to his original constituency, Kodangal.

Divine force?

Both Eatala and Revanth were 'victims' of KCR's actions in the past. Revanth was allegedly caught red-handed by the CID while giving money to an MLC to vote for a TDP candidate in council elections in 2015. Eatala was sacked from the cabinet on charges of land grabbing in 2021.

“KCR and Revanth are non-locals. If KCR wins, he will never be available for constituency voters as in Gajwel. He will be out of sight after the election. His farmhouse near Gajwel is out of reach for us. If Revanth wins, where is the guarantee that he will not give up the constituency? Either way, it is a loss for us. Who knows this might favour BJP’s Venkata Ramana Reddy?” businessman Maheswar Gupta says.

Revanth also alleges KCR’s Kamareddy choice is a ploy to grab the constituency from OBC leader Gampa Goverdhan, who is a five-term MLA: two terms from the TDP and three from BRS.

KCR, however, insists a divine force led him to Kamareddy. “KCR never comes alone. He will bring an all-round development in the form of industry, educational institutes, IT and many other things,” he told a public meeting after filing nomination papers in Kamareddy on November 9.

This is exactly what worries the people, says a local journalist. “The KCR model of development requires thousands of acres of land. The moment KCR announces projects, the land rates will zoom and farmers will refuse to part with their land with meagre compensation. Revanth portrays KCR as anti-farmer and BRS is calling KCR a Rythu Bandhu. The outcome of the election will depend on who will win over the local voters,” says the journalist.