Telangana assembly elections 2018: Heli-hopper KCR clocks eight rallies a day to ground rivals

HYDERABAD: Yellandu at 11.30 am, Kothagudem at 12.15 pm, Manuguru at 1 pm, Mulugu at 1.45 pm, Bhoopalpally at 2.30 pm, Manthani at 3.15 pm and Peddapally at 4 pm.

This is not a collection of random places in Telangana. These are poll cauldrons that Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao had touched down only on Friday as part of his heavily packed campaign itinerary ahead of the assembly elections in the state on December 7.

KCR, who is the biggest face TRS has in this election, is ensuring that he has face time with voters in as many constituencies as possible. Sources said that it is also an attempt to correct his image of being largely inaccessible in the past four years.

In the process, he has criss-crossed the state and created a record of sorts with his chopper rides. He made more than 73 touchdowns till Friday, according to data collected from the state aviation department. Star campaigners in the opposition parties on the other hand too have been accruing frequent flier miles, but they could achieve only half of KCR's sorties.

A distant second to the TRS big gun is Congress' star campaigner, actress-turned-neta Vijayashanti with nearly 40 landings. Her colleague in the party, Bhatti Vikramarka - contesting from the Madhira Assembly seat - too found a place on the top three with close to 30 touchdowns.

15 TO 20 MEETINGS ON AVERAGE DAILY

‘KTR, Harish Rao had 25 to 30 trips respectively’

“Other senior TRS leaders like KT Rama Rao and Harish Rao have between 25 and 30 trips respectively,” a senior official said. According to him, Hyderabad has witnessed the busiest helicopter movement this election. A fleet of eight helicopters are ferrying heavyweight politicians – from across major parties – to at least 15 to 20 meetings on an average every day.

K Chandrasekhar Rao was largely confined to his farmhouse in Gajwel till mid-November, waiting in ambush for the Congress to declare its list of candidates. Once the list was declared and Congress got busy dousing dissent in the ranks, the TRS boss hit the campaign trail, covering between four and six constituencies daily.

“Usually, we do not see more than three to four choppers taking off during campaigning. This year air traffic has been significantly higher,” the official said.

While on this list of VVIP campaigners are also the likes of Rahul Gandhi, Rajnath Singh, Mayawati, Swami Paripoornananda, Uttam Kumar Reddy and Revanth Reddy, most of their trips have been limited to single digits. “Revanth Reddy has touched about 25 places, but the rest haven’t flown much,” a source in the department said.

Chopper firms didn’t seem too excited by the numbers. “An eight-helicopter fleet is no big deal. During Uttar Pradesh elections, 42 choppers were flying in and out of Lucknow,” said Capt KNG Nair, chairman and managing director of Thumby Aviation – among the three main firms – along with Heligo Charters and Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd — that have leased aircraft to politicians in Telangana.