Congress leaders wary of DK’s campaign in Telangana

Congress leaders are jittery about DK Shiva Kumar’s campaign, fearing it might turn counterproductive to the party prospects. 

Hyderabad: Given the power crisis and protests by farmers in Karnataka, Congress leaders in Telangana are wary of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shiva Kumar’s campaigning in different constituencies here.

The Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister is arriving in Telangana on Saturday. He is slated to participate in different programmes in Tandur, Parigi and Chevella constituencies. However, the Congress leaders, especially those in the constituencies, are jittery about his campaign, fearing it might turn counterproductive to the party prospects.

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During the elections in Karnataka, the political equations were different. Local people were fed up with BJP government, there were rampant corruption charges and other issues. And people wanted to get rid of the BJP government. That kind of circumstances are not there in Telangana now, a Congress leader said.

“It is a totally contrasting situation in Telangana. The Karnataka campaign model will not work here and on the other hand, it could even boomerang,” he said.

Further, given the power crisis and protests by farmers against the Congress government in Karnataka, Congress leaders are worried that the people of Telangana, especially the farming community, might not support the Congress.

Already, many farmers from Karnataka have staged protests against the Congress government there in the bordering districts of Telangana like Gadwal and Ranga Reddy and are going around cautioning farmers here against voting for the Congress. At Kodangal, where TPCC president A Revanth Reddy was contesting, they took out a protest rally on Wednesday.

More so, it would be challenging for the local Congress leaders to convince the farming community and others over the six guarantees, as protests were being conducted in Karnataka over the failure to fulfill the promises made by the Congress government.