Entry of retired IPS officer R.S. Praveen Kumar into electoral politics is likely to open up more political opportunities for the MLAs and leaders from the Dalit community in the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) so as to counter his impact on the party.
Party is contemplating accommodating more Dalit leaders in the party posts as well as the government including corporations. One of the MLAs from the Madiga community may also be inducted into the Cabinet to ensure political balance between Mala and Madiga communities. Minister for SC Development Koppula Eashwar belongs to the Mala community.
Since most Dalit MLAs in the party are either young or just lack pan-Telangana appeal and confined to their constituencies, party is contemplating bringing in a senior and well-known Dalit face in case it wants to move more aggressively. The Dalit Bandhu is likely to have a chairman on the lines of Rythu Bandhu and that senior leader may head it though the CM will continue to be the face of the scheme. Senior Dalit leaders from other parties singing paeans of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao seem to be eyeing the post.
Mr. Praveen’s entry will certainly shake up the Dalit politics in the initial stages at least given his goodwill among those communities, particularly from the educated and employee sections.
“Our voter base among Dalits is particularly from rural and unorganised sector and less educated Dalits. We will further consolidate our base with the Dalit Bandhu scheme among the poorer sections of Dalits,” a TRS senior functionary argued.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders are also of the view that Mr. Praveen would only cut into the anti-TRS votes among Dalits and that in a way would consolidate the party’s strength politically and electorally.
Though Mr. Praveen is the coordinator of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Telangana, Dalits rallying around him would be doing so more as individually than supporters of the party. “Individuals identified with communities don’t make much impact on electoral politics. We have experienced it with Jayaprakash Narayan, Manda Krishna Madiga, J.D. Lakshminarayana and even Pawan Kalyan, who were identified with certain groups or communities” said a senior leader.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi has also devised a strategy to downsize Mr. Praveen’s image questioning his commitment to the Telangana movement and his role in countering the students in Osmania University when the agitation was at its peak.
The aggression was visible when Gadari Kishore, student-leader turned MLA did not mince words while targeting Mr. Praveen Kumar at a press conference after the latter targetted the Chief Minister at the Nalgonda meeting. If the response is aggressive TRS too will step up its attack.
Meanwhile, police has denied permission to the Dalita Girijana Dandora meeting to be held on August 18 at Ibrahimpatnam citing traffic issues. Congress leader Malreddy Ram Reddy said that police has asked them to find a new venue and not the proposed venue, which is adjacent to the Outer Ring Road near Ibrahimpatnam.
Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, under whose constituency Ibrahimpatnam falls, has said that he won’t be available on August 18 for the meeting. He would be in Goa from August 18 to 21 with the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
