HYDERABAD: Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Arvind Dharmapuri has sounded the poll bugle. In an obvious bid to wrest the
Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 election, he will embark on a 135 km padayatra in
Nizamabad parliamentary constituency beginning March 2. The seat is now held by Kalvakuntla Kavitha, daughter of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Arvind Dharmapuri's 10-day pada yatra will culminate in a huge public meeting at Bodhan on March 11.
"The time has come to keep my word and pursue the demand to get the government to reopen the Nizam sugar factory. I will stand by sugarcane farmers," Arvind Dharmapuri said in an announcement on Saturday.
With its strategy worked out to win the Nizamabad parliament seat, the Bharatiya Janata Party has shown interest to field Arvind Dharmapuri from the constituency. Arvind Dharmapuri who joined the party in September last year was appointed member of the state executive committee, BJP Telangana.
Interestingly, Arvind's father D Srinivas is a TRS Rajya Sabha member. Prior to joining the TRS, he was with the Congress. Arvind, however, chose to join the BJP to chalk out his own political course. In the last few months, through Arvind Foundation he provided funds to save lives of 70 children by taking care of the cost of surgeries needed for their ailments.
Arvind Dharmapuri has also taken up the issue of
Minimum Support Price (MSP) for red jowar farmers, for which the farmers were agitating. He made a representation to union minister of state for home Hans Raj Gangaram to take up the issue of MSP for not only red jowar but turmeric with the union government.
Interestingly, Arvind Dharmapuri has booked 300 hoardings in Nizamabad to popularize the scheme of the central government and also publicize BJP activities. He is also attacking the TRS government on its 'failures.' "What kind of progressive government chucks its people into abyss roads?? Please don't try to masquerade such acts of negligence as development, which claims the lives of citizens!" Arvind said on his FB showing the condition of roads in Nizamabad.
If would be interesting to watch if Arvind Dharmapuri, with all his protests, social work, and his latest padayatra will be able to wrest the Nizamabad seat from the TRS, irrespective of whether
Kavitha Kalvakuntla recontests from there or any other candidate is fielded. The TRS has time and again said the BJP will neither win an assembly seat nor a Lok Sabha seat in Telangana.