Seventy-three-year-old Tatiparthi Jeevan Reddy has seen it all being a veteran Congressman having fought Parliament, Assembly and council elections before. The former Minister, now an MLC, is taking on BJP sitting MP D. Arvind and BRS leader Bajireddy Goverdhan in Nizamabad. In an exclusive interview with The Hindu amid a hectic campaign, the five-time MLA and now MLC, explains why people are looking up to the Congress in this election:
How is your election campaign going on and what are the major issues that you are raising?
When the entire country faces one election, you should fight on economic policies. Instead, the BJP government at the Centre is determined to rake up communal divide and polarise the voters as it fears defeat in the general elections. The party has neither a farmer’s policy nor anything to offer for weaker sections.
Is there free power, input subsidy for farmers or unemployment dole for youth? Instead of facing voters on these failures, the BJP has realised that it has lost considerable ground and hence stuck to the Hindutva agenda and is making efforts to polarise the electorate.
The Minorities are merely 15% while the Majority vote is 85%. Why should you show the Muslims as ‘Ghosts’ in your effort to garner votes.
Will the talk of removing reservations for Muslims dent the support base of the BJP? The BJP talks of minority appeasement and removing reservation for the Muslims, is it an issue with the electorate?
The Congress party will highlight the discrimination of Muslims and other minorities by the BJP. The saffron party has gone totally bankrupt in trying to rake up communal divide. The BJP per se is always anti-reservation party. During the V. P. Singh government, when the Mandal Commission was announced to decide quota for the OBCs, the BJP distanced itself from it.
It is to the credit of former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao that OBC reservation was announced in employment in 1993 and subsequently extended to the educational sector by former PM Manmohan Singh in 2008.
What are the key issues that are coming to the fore in campaign in the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency?
First and foremost issue that needs attention is the farmer’s plight and ensuring remunerative prices for their produce. The Congress party is also highlighting how it is focussed on ensuring employment for the youth.
The NDA government at the Centre has completely ignored the plight of 10-lakh Gulf migrants and their families. In the past 10 years, it has done nothing to mitigate their suffering. The Congress government is determined to ensure that a Board is set up at the State level to address the concerns of the Gulf migrants and their families including those, who have returned back.
What about the long pending promise of setting up of a turmeric board in the region? Is it still a live issue?
Of course yes. Who asked Dharmapuri Arvind (BJP candidate and sitting MP) to write a bond paper in the 2019 general elections that he would get the Turmeric Board in five days. And, that if it failed, he would resign and join the turmeric farmers in their movement seeking it? What happened to the promise?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to Nizamabad and made a grandiose announcement that the Turmeric Board will be set up. If the Centre was serious, why did it not mention where the Turmeric Board will be located? Is it not taking the people of Nizamabad and the turmeric farmers for a ride? The BJP candidate will surely pay a price for the failed promise.
What is your effort on revival of the sick Nizam Sugar Factory Limited at Shakkarnagar near Bodhan? Why did the Centre not extend support to the revival of sick units? The Nizamabad MP has been claiming that 69 sick PSUs have been revived across the country.
The Congress government is determined to revive the six Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in the State. Revival of NSF units across Telangana is the top priority and all that is needed is ₹1,000 crore to put back all these sick units into action. We intend to start the NSF unit in Shakkarnagar by March 2025.
Is it a triangular fight between the Congress, BRS and the BJP?
It is now clear that the fight is between the Congress and BJP. The BRS has lost its ground after the Assembly elections. There are large numbers of defections from the BRS to other parties. Congress is the preferred party for BRS leaders. Very few have crossed over to the BJP. One must realise that cadres form the major chunk of voters. In our case, we are sure that the weakening of BRS will benefit us immensely.
There is a talk that you are a non-local of Nizamabad and had rarely been to the constituency before?
It is wrong to say I am a non-local. Jagtial is part of the Nizamabad parliamentary constituency and in fact, I am a non-local in the Karimnagar district. So the talk of me being a non-local and inaccessible to the people is just a talk to divert voters’ attention.
