Blow to TRS as Arvind stuns Kavitha in Nizamabad

HYDERABAD: The 178 turmeric farmers from Nizamabad turned out to be the nemesis of TRS candidate and sitting Nizamabad MP K Kavitha. The farmers, who contested the elections as independents demanding a hike in the MSP for their produce and setting up of a turmeric board in the district, secured 94,353 votes together. Kavitha lost the battle to BJP’s underdog and first time contestant Arvind Dharmapuri by a margin of 70,875 votes.
With the losing margin acting as the decisive factor, Kavitha’s defeat came as a rude shock to the ruling TRS as in December assembly elections, the party had won the seats in this district by decimating Congress and TDP.Out of the seven assembly seats under Nizamabad LS seat, TRS won six and Congress managed to win the seventh seat.
KCR’s last ditch efforts to woo the migrant voters from AP in the constituency also did not pay off. In 2014, Kavitha had won the Nizamabad seat with a huge majority of 1,67,184 votes over Congress candidate Madhu Yashki Goud. This time around, Madhu Yaskhi was placed in the third position behind Kavitha. Since 1952, the BJP had never won the Nizamabad seat.
While TRS alleged that there was match-fixing between Congress and BJP to defeat Kavitha, turmeric farmers said it was a victory for democracy. “Our intention was to get the attention of the people on the farmers’ issues. This is a lesson for any government across the country. When farmers are neglected, the government will be taught a lesson. And this includes the BJP which has won the seat now,” Anvesh Reddy, who led the farmers to contest the elections, told TOI.
Telangana has the highest production of turmeric in India. Few farmers, allegedly supported by TRS tried to file nominations in Varanasi from where PM Narendra Modi contested, as retaliation to the nominations filed in Nizamabad, countering Kavitha. In view of the enormity of poll exercise, Nizamabad LS seat is taken up as a study by ISB, Hyderabad.