Telangana polls: New beginning from Kamareddy, while Gajwel seeks KCR's continuation

The tractors clanked into the venue, bringing hordes of villagers to the Government College ground in Telangana's Kamareddy district. More vehicles followed — this time trucks with tarpaulin roofs. Villagers from far and near poured into the ground from the vehicles and were herded to the venue, where the pink flags of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) fluttered.

A motorcade of about 100 cars accompanying a bullet-proof caravan rolled in and came to a halt amidst loud cheers. Chief Minister and BRS supremo K Chandrashekar Reddy — popularly known as KCR — alighted from the caravan, a pink shawl carefully thrown over his shoulder sported the three letters, 'BRS', above an outline of India's map.

With brisk steps, KCR walked through the crowd that waved pink shawls at him. The frenzied crowd cheered, raising the slogan, "Jai Telangana". KCR has been whipping up the Telangana sentiment once again in this election.

KCR was at the ground to kickstart his campaign for the 30 November election in the Kamareddy Assembly constituency, where he had, a couple of hours ago, submitted his nomination papers.

For the first time, he is seeking the mandate from two constituencies, Gajwel — which he has been representing since the formation of Telangana in 2014 — and Kamareddy. Though he is contesting from two constituencies, KCR has not changed the routine he had followed in the previous two elections. The grand finale of his campaign will be in Gajwel, his party leaders said, while justifying the BRS chief seeking the mandate from two segments as a "strategic move".

However, his opponents in the two constituencies are not small fries. While the BJP's campaign committee chairman Eatala Rajender is challenging KCR in Gajwel, the chief minister has Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president A Revanth Reddy as his opponent in Kamareddy.

Incidentally, both Eatala and Revanth Reddy, too, are contesting in two constituencies each: Huzurabad and Kodangal, respectively.

A former minister in the KCR cabinet, Eatala left the BRS and pledged allegiance to the BJP in 2021. Besides the BJP and Congress's challenge in Kamareddy, KCR was facing another hurdle in the segment. The farmers in the constituency took to the streets in protest after the Kamareddy Municipal Corporation decided to acquire the farmlands of about 100 farmers as part of developing the area. The 100 farmers also threatened to contest against KCR in the election. KCR took the threat seriously. His daughter and MLC K Kavitha was defeated in Nizamabad in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when 178 turmeric farmers contested against her.

Considering the Kamareddy farmers' protest, the government issued an order, cancelling the master plan to develop the city. While addressing the campaign meeting at the Government College on Thursday, KCR harped on his government's farmer welfare initiatives.

Campaign meetings that KCR attends do not follow the normal pattern. The meeting begins when he starts speaking, and it ends with his speech. There will not be any welcome address or vote of thanks. KCR will mention the names of the dignitaries on the stage, and they will get to their feet with folded hands and greet the crowd. No one else will address the meeting.

The crowd waiting for KCR's meetings will be kept entertained with live BRS campaign songs and dances. KCR himself has penned several songs.

The people and KCR come face-to-face only at such meetings. He doesn't interact with the media. Seeking votes personally even in his constituency is not KCR's style.

The chief minister will take a three-day Deepavali break before hitting the campaign trail again.