As campaigning came to a close in Telangana by Wednesday evening, after three weeks of high-pitch campaign for the assembly elections, political analysts, media persons and independent political observers who had whirlwind tours of different parts of the state are still struggling to understand the real mood of the people.
The general impression one had got during the visits to different parts of Telangana in the last three weeks is that the people are somehow dissatisfied with the Bharat Rashtra Samithi government led by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Though Telangana looks flourishing with greenery, irrigation canals, wide roads even to the interior villages, drinking water to every doorstep and pensions to every family, for some reason, the people do not seem to be happy with the BRS government.
“We want change,” is the only talk that has been going on in the rural areas of Telangana.
“We have given two terms to KCR and let us see what the Congress would deliver, if given a chance,” is the general comment from the pople.
Not that the people have any love lost for the Congress and are not bothered if the change will bring any good for them. But they are desperately looking for a change.
There are many factors that have led to this impression – corruption at the grassroots level, inaccessibility of the MLAs and other BRS leaders who are more interested in making as much money as possible, non-implementation or poor implementation of key promises like double bedroom houses and Dalit Bandhu, neglect of tenant, small and marginal farmers and above all, growing unemployment.
A vilager summed up the situation: “You don’t sow cotton year after year. If you do that, pests will attack the crop. Same is with the government. We have to keep changing them, lest they become complacent and arrogant,” he said, while talking to a senior journalist working for a digital media.
