The multi-pronged political contests in Tamil Nadu have just acquired another hue as a Telugu native, settled in Chennai, is filing nomination to fight against Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa from the R.K. Nagar constituency in Chennai in the Assembly elections on May 16.
Ketireddy Jagadeeshwar Reddy of T. Nagar is the David in the contest and he is peeved at the step-motherly treatment of the successive Dravidan parties towards local Telugus. He entered the political fray as an independent candidate to take on the Chief Minister, the Goliath.
“The Telugus settled in Tamil Nadu are facing several problems. Despite bringing them to the notice of the TN Chief Minister, nothing has been done,” says Mr. Reddy, who has come to Vijayawada to seek the blessings of Goddess Kanakadurga on Monday before kick starting his political campaign.
Mr. Reddy said the Telugu students, numbering over 12,000, were put to a lot of difficulty when the government made a law asking all the students to learn Tamil. “The Telugu students got some respite when we approached the court,” he added.
He said the State government, keen to make it appear that there were good number of Tamil voters in the constituencies, was changing the Telugu names by adding ‘an’ suitably.
“I am not contesting to win against the Amma. I want to split the votes as the margin of winning or losing would be minimal in Assembly elections. I want to create some ripples in the political arena,” he admitted, while releasing a poster.
