Adilabad Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Atram Suguna’s Strong Ground Connect Gives Congress the Edge Over BJP, BRS – News18

The Adilabad (ST) Lok Sabha constituency is one of 17 parliamentary constituencies in Telangana. This seat is reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates and comprises part of the Adilabad district. Seven Assembly segments currently fall under the Adilabad (ST) Lok Sabha seat. Of these, the BJP currently holds four (Sirpur, Adilabad, Nirmal and Mudhole), while the BRS holds two (Asifabad-ST and Boath-ST) and the Congress holds one (Khanapur-ST).

Sitting MP — Soyam Bapu Rao (BJP)

Candidates — Atram Sakku (BRS), Godam Nagesh (BJP) and Atram Suguna (Congress)

Voting Date — May 13, 2024

Political Dynamics

• Overview: It’s an interesting triangular contest in Adilabad this time with the Congress fielding newcomer and popular tribal teacher Atram Suguna against seasoned politicians like BJP’s Godam Nagesh and BRS’s Atram Sakku.
• As per local sources, the competition may boil down to Congress vs BJP in this seat, with the former holding the edge given Atram Suguna’s strong connect with the local population as well as her clean political slate.
• The BJP is banking on its development agenda and the appeal of PM Narendra Modi while the Congress is highlighting the speed at which the Revanth Reddy government fulfilled its Assembly election promises. The BRS, meanwhile, claims it is the only party that can truly represent the interests of Telangana.
• Congress Pins Hopes on Adivasi Leader: The Congress has won the Adilabad-ST seat eight times so far, but its last Lok Sabha victory here came way back in 2008.
• Since then, despite being the party at the Centre that created the state of Telangana, the Congress has struggled to get a foothold in the constituency.
• It stood third in 2019 and second in both 2014 and 2009.
• The grand old party has handpicked firebrand Adivasi leader and former government schoolteacher Atram Suguna to regain its lost bastion.
• With the nomination, Suguna has become the first Adivasi woman to contest from the tribal heartland constituency.
• She resigned from her position as the district secretary of Human Rights Forum (HRF) to make her electoral debut.
• Political observers say the Congress’s choice this time is spot on since 49-year-old Suguna is popular among women and youth and had been in the thick of action during the statehood movement.
• In 20 years of social service, she has worked with the community on issues like farmer suicides, tribal rights and developing facilities for students.
• She is known to be a daughter of the soil with two decades of community activism to her credit and is adept at conversing with voters across demographics about their issues.
• BJP Faces Internal Rift: The BJP had opened its account in Adilabad in 2019 when Soyam Bapu Rao won on a saffron ticket after jumping ship from the BRS. He had defeated closest rival and BRS candidate Godam Nagesh by 58,560 votes.
• In a dramatic twist five years later, the BJP has ignored sitting MP Soyam Bapu Rao in favour of Godam Nagesh who recently switched over from the BRS.
• Godam Nagesh had won the Adilabad seat as a BRS candidate in the 2014 elections, marking his entry into the Lok Sabha for the first time. Despite the Modi wave across India, the BJP had stood fourth in that election in Adilabad given the fervour over the imminent creation of Telangana.
• The BJP now is hoping to be the first party since 1999 to score consecutive victories in Adilabad.
• A major positive sign for the saffron party in Adilabad is that it won four Assembly seats that fall within this Lok Sabha constituency in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections — Sirpur, Adilabad, Nirmal and Mudhole.
• It, however, faces certain challenges from within. Outgoing MP Soyam Bapu Rao is said to be sulking at being denied the ticket and sources say has been missing from campaigning events for Nagesh.
• Modi Appeal Evident: In stark contrast to the 2014 elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a huge factor in these elections in Adilabad.
• The sentiment on the ground seems to suggest that more than the candidate, it is the popularity of PM Modi that may pull voters to the BJP.
• A number of factors explain this sentiment, prime among them PM Modi’s schemes for the ST population across India and BJP’s outreach to the tribal communities.
• The BJP is banking on the fact that it chose a member of the Adivasi community, Droupadi Murmu, to be the President of India and is also emphasising on schemes such as the PM Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan.
• Another Modi initiative the BJP hopes would play to its electoral advantage among tribals is the Janjatiya Gaurav Corridor which aims to improve rail infrastructure, connectivity, and economic progress in tribal regions.
• As per reports, the construction of the Ram Mandir in UP’s Ayodhya has also boosted the Prime Minister’s popularity in Adilabad. There is said to be much enthusiasm towards the Ram Temple in rural hamlets.
• BRS: The BRS has won the Adilabad seat twice — 2004 and 2014. Its 2014 winning candidate Godam Nagesh is now the BJP candidate.
• In fact, since being displaced from power in Telangana by the Congress in last year’s Assembly elections, several influential leaders have left the party in areas like Adilabad, Nirmal, Mudhole and Asifabad.
• BRS, which ruled the state for about a decade since its emergence, is low on morale in Adilabad and the rest of Telangana following its 2023 defeat.
• The arrest of its founder and former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha on the eve of poll dates announcement also dented cadre spirit here.
• Though the BRS has officially struck up an alliance with the BSP, some sections of voters believe that the BJP and BRS may have a post-poll understanding.
• Adivasis vs Lambadas: The tussle between the Adivasi Gond community and the Lambada Banjaras sub-section is the main election factor in the Adilabad seat, which borders Maharashtra.
• The Adivasis allege that the Lambadas are migrants from Maharashtra who have ended up prospering with Scheduled Tribe reservations even though they are listed as Backward Class in Maharashtra.
• The Adivasi Gonds have been demanding the removal of the Lambadas from the ST list while the latter are naturally opposed to it.
• With all three major candidates in the fray belonging to the Adivasi Gonds, the votes of this influential community are likely to be scattered between the three, leaving the Lambadas to play king or queen makers.
• As per political observers, Congress candidate Atram Suguna may enjoy some advantage when it comes to Gond votes since she was a key figure in protests demanding the removal of Lambadas from the ST list.
• Conversely, this means a section of the Lambadas may not vote for her due to her role in the anti-Lambada agitation.
• Women Voters: Women voters (8,42,888) in Adilabad outnumber the men (8,02,882) making it an important segment to woo in the elections.
• As things stand, women voters seem to favour Congress candidate Atram Suguna since they relate to the popular tribal teacher and her inspiration story of rising in public life despite suffering child marriage at the age of 13.
• But the BJP can also count on the women vote-bank here primarily due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-women and pro-tribal schemes like the Ujjwala scheme, Matru Vandana Scheme and PM Jan Man. The construction of hundreds of toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission is also a major pull for the party in Adilabad.
• The party can also claim the Women Reservation Bill to its credit.

Key Constituency Issues

• Demand to Reopen CCI Factory: The Cement Corporation of India (CCI) factory in Adilabad has been non-operational since November 5, 1998.
• It is located on the outskirts of Adilabad town, on 772 acres of land, and includes a 170-acre township with around 400 quarters.
• The plant supplied cement to the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra, as well as North Telangana.
• The plant stopped production due to lack of working capital and was scheduled for closure in 2008 with employees offered voluntary retirement.
• However, the factory still has all the necessary facilities to reopen, including 48 million tons of limestone deposits, water supply, and power supply.
• Locals in Adilabad have been demanding that making the plan operational again would help supply cement to North Telangana and Maharashtra, as well as solve the unemployment issue in the constituency.
• Delay in Adilabad-Armoor Railway Line: The Adilabad-Armoor broad-gauge railway line has been a long-pending demand with not much movement since being approved by the Centre in 2017. Rs 2,800 crore was allocated for the project and the Telangana government agreed to contribute 50% of the total project costs.
• Locals say the line will help Adilabad’s industrial corridor develop by supporting the trade of limestone, cotton, manganese, and soy.
• They add that it will be useful for the region’s socio-economic development, as it will connect new areas to the capital of Telangana and New Delhi.
• Airport Demand: Adilabad has also been long waiting for an airport since the nearest one, the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in Nagpur, is 196km away. The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad is around 304km from Adilabad.
• The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been positively responding to the state government’s requests for an airport in Adilabad.
• As per reports, the airport in Adilabad will be developed on an existing site, or brownfield, and will require 122 acres in the first phase and 175 acres in the second phase.
• Forest Rights Act: While the FRA may not be a hot button issue, several tribal families in Adilabad are still waiting for titles or pattas on their land claims.
• Considered a milestone in redressing the historical injustice done to Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, the Forest Rights Act 2006 aims to recognise forest rights of such communities living in forests for generations.
• Adilabad is one of the 53 core FRA constituencies.
• According to government data, the FRA claim disposal rate in the last five years has come down from 87.72 per cent to 84.44 per cent.
• Uniform Civil Code: After the abrogation of Article 370 in J&K and the construction of a Ram Mandir at the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, a central UCC is the only remaining promise among the BJP’s holy trinity of election promises. BJP-ruled Uttarakhand has already enacted its own Uniform Civil Code and speculation is rife that the saffron party may follow suit in other states or at the Centre in its third term.
• While the Uttarakhand UCC had kept tribal communities of its ambit amid much political controversy, tribal groups in Telangana and other states are wary at the prospect of a central UCC.
• With the Law Commission’s consultation on the UCC going on, some tribal groups have demanded that they be kept out of the statute while opposition parties have accused the ruling BJP of taking up the issue as a poll gimmick.
• Sources say that while the issue of UCC is not a much discussed one in Adilabad, some tribal activists have been apprehensive and are reiterating in the election season that the community be kept out of the speculated UCC.

Voter Demographics

Social composition

SC — 15.2%

ST — 21.9%

Religious composition

Buddhist — 0.93%

Muslim — 11.7%

Geographic composition

Rural voters — 79.1%

Urban voters — 20.9%

Major Infra Projects in Adilabad

• Ambari-Adilabad-Pimpalkhuti Line: In March this year, PM Narendra Modi inaugurated and dedicated to the nation the newly electrified Ambari-Adilabad-Pimpalkhuti railway line.
• The project is part of the Mudkhed-Pimpalkhuti electrification works which is spread across 182km and was sanctioned in 2017-18 at Rs 206 crore.
• The Ambari-Adilabad-Pimpalkhuti section is a 58km stretch completed at a cost of Rs 70 crore.
• Nizamabad-Adilabad Railway Line: The 125-km Nizamabad-Adilabad railway line will connect the Adilabad and Nizamabad districts with the Nirmal district, which has limited railway connectivity.
• The line will also connect Adilabad to the Kazipet-Balharshah main line near Gadchendur, allowing trains to operate without passing through the Balharshah junction.
• The electrification of this section of the line will allow for seamless rail connectivity from Adilabad to Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, and Nagpur.
• Patancheruvu (Nagalapalli)-Adilabad Line: The Patancheruvu (Nagalapalli) – Adilabad is a 317-km long railway line that will connect several new and unconnected areas in Northern Telangana.
• The line is estimated to cost around Rs. 5,706 crore and will provide rail connectivity to towns such as Ichoda, Neradigonda, Dhanur, Nirmal, Balkonda, Armoor, Bodhan, Rudrur, Nasrullabad, Banswada, Nizamsagar, Alahadurg, Sangareddy, and Patancheruvu.
• The line will also pass through agriculturally developed areas, which will help farmers from Medak, Siddipet, Nizamabad, and Nirmal market their produce.
• Critical Care Block: In October 2023, PM Modi had laid the foundation stone of 20 critical care blocks (CCBs) under the Pradhan Mantri – Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, including in Adilabad district.
• These CCBs will have complete arrangements for dedicated isolation wards, oxygen supply and infection prevention and control.
• Widening of Adilabad-Bela Section of NH35: The Adilabad-Bela section of NH-35 in Adilabad district is being widened to two lanes with paved shoulders at a cost of Rs 490.92 crore. The project is 32.97km long. and
• The existing road is being widened to four lanes with two-lane service roads on either side in built-up areas. The right of way (ROW) will be between 45 and 60 metres throughout the project.
• Gadchandur-Adilabad Railway Line: This is a new broad-gauge line in the Adilabad district of Telangana and the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra.
• The line will be about 71km long and cost an estimated Rs 1,278 crore.
• It will start at the south end of the existing Gadchandur station’s loop line and connect to the Adilabad station’s north side loop line.
• The line will provide rail access to backward areas in both districts and is expected to increase freight transportation.
• The Railway Ministry has approved the Final Location Survey (FLS) for the line, but the Railway Board has not moved forward yet due to low traffic projections, high capital costs, and poor return on investment.
• Janjatiya Gaurav Corridor: The Janjatiya Gaurav Corridor is a Rs 70,000 crore initiative to improve rail connectivity and infrastructure in tribal-dominated regions of India.
• The initiative is part of the 2023-2024 budget and aims to help tribal communities, promote socio-economic growth, and address connectivity gaps.
• Earlier this year, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that under the Janjatiya Gaurav Corridor initiative, the Railways has sanctioned new lines between Odisha and Telangana.

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