1 week ago
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At 11.30 a.m., the sun is as harsh as it has been for the last one week. The roads wear a deserted look with people rushing indoors to get respite.
After a three-hour-long door-to-door campaign in a locality predominantly inhabited by the Muslim community, Reddeppagari Madhavi Reddy joins fellow party leaders for a sip of cool buttermilk before winding up the forenoon session of her campaign.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has strategically named Ms. Madhavi as the candidate for the prestigious seat, which has been held by candidates representing the Muslim community for the last three decades.
Congress candidate Kandula Sivananda Reddy was the last non-minority candidate to win the Kadapa seat in 1989. Since then, the seat has been with Muslim MLAs irrespective of the party in power. TDP’s S.A. Khaleel Basha won the seat twice in 1994 and 1999, Syed Mohammad Ahmedulla of Congress wrested it in 2004 and 2009, while Shaik Amzath Basha Bepari of YSR Congress Party bagged the seat in 2014 and 2019.
In spite of being the Deputy Chief Minister and wielding the Minority Welfare portfolio, Mr. Amzath Basha faces mounting anti-incumbency from the public and also witnessing stiff resistance from within the community.
In 2014, he defeated TDP’s Sudha Durga Prasad Rao by 45,205 votes and Nawabjan Ameer Babu by 54,794 votes in 2019. However, Mr. Basha faces resistance from his own community this time on his perceived indifference in protecting Rakeeb Sha Vali Dargah land and demolition of Yaqoob Sab Masjid for road widening.
Voting pattern
A close analysis of the voting pattern makes it clear that the TDP’s vote share slid from 41.24% in 2004 to 39.7% in 2009, further to 30.7% in 2014 to 30.01% in 2019. “This means, one in three voters continued to favour us in 2019, in spite of the perceived ‘Jagan wave’. The ruling party is treading a rocky terrain this time and the TDP will surely break the jinx”, says Ms. Madhavi Reddy.
Continuing her ‘Buttermilk pe charcha’ with The Hindu to beat the simmering heat wave, she strongly believes that her gender is an added advantage, which helps her get into the Muslim households and make an impression among women voters.
“While the Muslim men are clearly unhappy with Amzath Basha’s negative image, the women in the community are seeing me as one among them,” she says assertively.
The TDP’s vote share never breached the 55,000-mark during the last four elections, but Muslim women appear to have a ‘decisive say’ in taking it upward this time.
