Telugu-speaking voters in Karnataka seem to be going all out against the BJP

Telugu-speaking voters in Karnataka seem to be going all out against the BJP in the Assembly elections on May 12.

Over 10,000 Telugu-speaking families settled in Karnataka have formed  the Telugu Association for Karnataka (TAK) for running a massive campaign titled ‘No vote for BJP’.The association has put up banners and posters declaring that the BJP has “cheated Telugus” by denying special status to Andhra Pradesh.

Over seven lakh Telugu-speaking voters, whose origins are in Andhra Pradesh, have joined the campaign so far. If the movement continues in this vein, it is likely to directly affect the winning prospects of BJP candidates in at least 25-30 Assembly constituencies. If the Telugu-speaking voters from Telangana also join the campaign, their number would swell to about 10 lakh votes.

Speaking to this newspaper, TAK secretary Sundar Ram Chaganti said, “Over 70 per cent of Telugu settlers in Karnataka are from AP. They are concentrated in Marathahalli, BTM (Byrasandra, Thavarekere and Madiwala), Yelandur, and Domlur. Our campaign has a single-point agenda, ‘No vote for BJP’. Currently, around seven lakh Telugus from AP are under the umbrella of TAK, and if all of us stand by the agenda, the BJP is set to lose seven lakh votes.”TAK joint secretary Keerti Reddy said, “It is a swiftly growing campaign, and we are also trying to reach out to Telugus from Telangana in Basava-kalyan, Bidar, and Bellary. There are nearly three lakh settlers from Telangana in these districts, and the idea is to see that the BJP does not benefit.”

Most Telugu settlers have made Karnataka their home over the last two decades. “Though we are a part of Karnataka, we have neither forgotten our origin nor the injustice meted out to Andhra. We are doing our bit by not voting for BJP,” said Pavan Kumar, joint secretary of TAK. A majority of settlers live in urban and suburban pockets of Karnataka, with most of them employed in the information technology sector, education, and medicine. The techies among them are concentrated in Mahadevapura, Marathahalli, and Whitefield.