A two-hour long meeting convened to mark the announcement of MLC K. Nageshwar entering the fray as an independent in Malkajgiri parliamentary constituency here on Sunday saw people spontaneously coming up with donations of Rs. 61,571 in cash and a few more lakhs in the form of assurances for his election fund.
That was not all. There were assurances of Rs. 1 lakh each from associations representing teachers, bank and insurance employees and the APSRTC too. Addressing an impressive gathering, the MLC was at his usual acerbic self, hitting out against the system and yet ebullient at the prospect of over a 1,000 people spontaneously congregating to say that they were with him in his attempt to enter the portals of Parliament.
Typically in his breezy style, he said, “Manam kooda Hyderabad lo poti chestunnam” (Even I am in the electoral race from Hyderabad),” drawing applause. When someone asked him about his face, he quipped that his face was the same as that of the public. “The time has come to rewrite history and when I was asked about whether I was contesting as an independent, I said, “No, but dependent on all of you here,” he said to more laughter.
On a serious tone, he said there were enough problems plaguing society for a people’s representative to fight for. He said that although he had about two years left in his term as MLC, he was convinced that the people of Malkajgiri needed their voice to be heard in Parliament, be it for drinking water, drainage, bad roads and other civic infrastructure or myriad other problems.
Summing up the proceedings later, K. Venugopal, vice-president of the All-India Insurance Employees Association, told this correspondent that it was a rare instance of people coming up with a spontaneity that needed to be replicated. “Between themselves, office-bearers of different associations covering public sector and State and Central government employees, those from the banking and insurance sectors, apart from teachers, have proclaimed that they would raise the election fund required. All that they want now is for Mr. Nageshwar to be available for the campaign,” he stated.
