Votes of Andhra settlers decisive in Secunderabad, Malkajgiri

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Now, all political parties believe that if they manage to get their support, they can easily win the Secunderabad and Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seats.

Hyderabad: With people from Andhra Pradesh who have settled in Hyderabad to play a vital role in deciding the fate of candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, political parties are wooing them with various promises.

People from Andhra Pradesh residing in Hyderabad played an important role in the victory of BRS during the Assembly polls in the Greater Hyderabad limits.

Now, all political parties believe that if they manage to get their support, they can easily win the Secunderabad and Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seats.

The BJP, with its alliance with the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, has reportedly urged TDP leaders here to campaign for its candidates in Malkajgiri and Secunderabad constituencies, where a considerable number of people from Andhra reside. In 2014, the BJP had won five Assembly seats in Telangana due to an alliance with the TDP.

It is believed that people from Andhra Pradesh played a vital role in the victory of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and union Minister G Kishan Reddy, who contested from Malkajgiri and Secunderabad Lok Sabha seats respectively in 2019. Now the two leaders are making efforts to retain the seats by wooing the voters from Andhra Pradesh.

Even BRS, which got support from the people of Andhra Pradesh during the Assembly polls, is trying to win the two seats. According to reports, individuals originally from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions are spread across nearly 10 Assembly constituencies in the city, particularly in Serilingampally, Kukatpally, Quthbullapur, Medchal, LB Nagar, Malkajgiri, and Uppal, among others. According to an estimation, Kukatpally, Malkajgiri and Quthbullapur Assembly segments in Hyderabad have a huge number of people from Andhra Pradesh.

Though Tamilians, Marwadis, Marathis and other communities could also influence the elections, it’s mostly people from Andhra Pradesh who seem to matter to win the polls. The political parties in these two constituencies have launched outreach programmes to reach out to people belonging to Andhra.

The Telangana government, in a 2014 letter to the 14th Finance Commission, estimated that out of the 3.5 crore population in the State, 67 lakh were people from other States, including Andhra Pradesh. A vast majority of people from the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh reside in Hyderabad, which is an estimated 30 lakh; the rest live across the districts bordering Andhra Pradesh.

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