It is about 3 p.m. on Saturday in this village located about five km. from the National Highway. The glaring sun is forcing people to look for a shade, even for a brief while. A group of villagers at a crossroad are dancing as they wait for the VIPs to come and participate in the campaign.
After about 15 minutes, Lok Sabha member K. Prabhakar Reddy, former MLA Chinta Prabhakar and former MLC R. Sataynarayana arrive and join the villagers kicking off the meet. ‘Vote for ring’ slogans rented the air. The VIPs moved through lanes and sub-lanes urging voters to cast their vote for the candidate they have been campaigning for. Being the last day of campaigning in the first phase of gram panchayat election, the leaders are in a hurry to beat the deadline and cover as much ground as possible. TRS leaders participated in campaigns in Sangareddy, Sadashivapet, Kondapur and Kandi mandals.
In a related development, Congress MLA T. Jayaprakash Reddy has campaigned in Fasalwadi village in Sangareddy mandal in support of a sarpanch candidate Swapna, who is contesting against his sister Nirmala Devi.
Though the elections are not being held along party lines or symbols, it was glaringly visible in villages that candidates are independent officially, but they had already taken sides. People are admitting the contest is mainly between the candidate being supported either by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) or the Opposition Congress.
Required “assistance” is being extended to the candidates by their respective parties.
At several villages contestants distributed their election symbols — bat, ball, scissors and rings — of course, plastic ones to voters.
Wide support
In some villages contesting beyond party lines, candidates with a good reputation are being supported by the villagers in the hope that they would do something to put the village on the path of development.
“We have tried to make it unanimous till the last minute but failed. All of a sudden, against the general agreement in the village, a candidate filed the nomination and we are supporting Shafi, whom we decided to elect unanimous,” said a villager at Haridaspur village in Kondapur mandal.