In a bid to register their protest against the Polavaram project, the town-based Sparsha Samajika Adhyayana Vedika is mulling filing nominations en masse to the Khammam Lok Sabha seat.
Sources said the move was aimed at highlighting the plight of lakhs of adivasis facing the threat of submergence and “large-scale” displacement on account of the project.
The proposal comes close on the heels of the decision of the Mumpu Pranthala Parirakshana Samithi to boycott the ZPTC and MPTC elections in Kukunoor and Velerupadu mandals, which fall under the Polavaram submergence zone. Not a single nomination was filed for the local body elections in the two mandals.
Although the strategy of the Sparsha Vedika appears opposite to that of the Samithi as the latter gave a call for the total boycott of polls, the two approaches are aimed at highlighting the Polavaram issue at the national level. Both organisations have been vociferously opposing the Centre’s “decision” to transfer several mandals of Bhadrachalam Agency to the residual State of Andhra Pradesh and demanding cancellation of the project.
When contacted, Sparsha Vedika convener K. Bhaskar said the move to file nominations en masse was intended to bring the burning issue of Polavaram project to the focus at the national level for spearheading a mass movement against the project.
“In such a scenario, elections in the particular constituency could be postponed due to technical reasons like inability to print election symbols of a large number of contestants on the ballot papers to be uploaded into EVMs,” he said.
Meanwhile, the CPI ML-New Democracy (Chandranna Group) has also mooted a similar plan, with an objective to garner public support against the project.
In NalgondaIn a similar move, people of the fluoride affected areas in Nalgonda district filed nominations en-masse to register their protest against “government’s apathy” to provide them safe drinking water.
