In an interesting turn of events ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Hyderabad and its adjoining districts of Rangareddy and Medchal Malkajgiri, where Congress had drawn a blank in the recently-concluded assembly elections, are right on the top of the list for the most number of applications received for the five guarantees of the party.
More than 1.25 crore applications were received during Praja Palana meetings held by the state government across the state. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday formed a four-member sub-committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka for smooth implementation of the poll promises.
Reddy had held a review meeting after the special drive for applications ended on Saturday.
However, not all the applications were related to the poll promises. About 20 lakh applications were submitted across the state for ration cards and other issues. The state government had clarified that the farmers receiving input subsidy are not required to enlist many people also submitted their applications for these schemes.
A fresh database would be created for the applications received during the Praja Palana drive on a war footing and completed by 30 January. The list of beneficiaries would then be released paving the way for implementation of the Congress poll promises.
Hyderabad topped the list with 10.7 lakh applications for 5 guarantees, 3 lakh applications from the city for other demands. In total the city saw submission of a whopping 13.7 lakh applications. Rangareddy was next with 10.2 lakh total applications and Medchal-Malkajgiri saw submission of 9.2 lakh applications. While AIMIM and BJP (Goshamahal) retained their seats in the Old City area BRS won 15 seats in Hyderabad, all 5 in Medchal-Malkajgiri and another 4 in Rangareddy districts.
Robin Zaccheus, a RTI activist said, “People of Telangana trust the six guarantees of Congress. It will be appropriate and wise to elect the Congress government for smooth implementation of all the schemes and to take major decisions in the interest of the state.”
Telangana Congress spokesperson Sama Ram Mohan Reddy said it does not matter if Hyderabad or adjoining areas did not vote for Congress, the poll promises would be implemented for everyone in the same manner as the rest of the state.
“In Hyderabad, people did not believe that Congress could win the seats. But now that the Congress has won and formed the government they have found hope that after ten long years, their needs will be looked into and the same BRS, BJP and AIMIM leaders who had said before elections that Congress was not capable enough to deliver its promises were seen proudly posing for photographs while attending Praja Palana meetings for submission of applications,” said Sama Ram Mohan Reddy.