Adilabad Assembly constituency profile - Telangana elections 2018: The Adilabad constituency has a history of dethroning MLAs who had won on two consecutive occasions. It was thanks only to the by-elections in the peak of the Telangana agitation in 2012 that caretaker minister for Forest and Environment and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader Jogu Ramanna had won on three occasions--2009, 2012 (by-poll) and 2014. One of the 10 constituencies in the undivided Adilabad district, the constituency played a vital role during the second stage of the Telangana movement led by the Telangana Joint Action Force (T-JAC). The Adilabad Lok Sabha constituency is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (STs).

Having defeated former minister C Ramachandra Reddy in the 2009 polls and the 2012 bye-elections, Jogu Ramanna emerged as a candidate with an advantage in the 2014 elections owing to his participation in the Telangana movement. However, lack of progress clubbed with the failure in resolution of public issues has earned the TRS MLA disrepute among the locals. The fact that the caretaker minister faced the ire of villagers across Jainath mandal in the constituency speaks volumes on the public mood. The 2014 election in the constituency was seen as a triangular fight between Jogu Ramanna, BJP candidate Payal Shankar and Congress's fresh candidate Bhargav Deshpande. With a comfortable majority over the BJP contestant, Jogu Ramanna emerged victorious with a vote share of 41.16% against 30.85% votes polled in favour of Payal Shankar in the 2.15 lakh strong electorate.

Jogu Ramanna's 2014 election promises predominantly included completion of Chanaka-Korata barage across River Penganga, construction of railway under-bridge near Punjab Chowk in Adilabad, reopening the Cement Corporation of India (CCI) factory and resolving various issues within the municipality and various mandals. In the last four years, the TRS leader bagged a reputation of not being accessible to the public ever since he was inducted to KCR's cabinet in 2014.

This scenario leads to an interesting fight between Jogu Ramanna, senior Congress leader and TPCC General Secretary Gandrath Sujatha and BJP candidate Payal Shankar in the upcoming elections. With all the three major contenders hailing from the Backward Classes (BCs), it appears that the Congress candidate has an edge over the other two, mainly due to the Congress grand alliance's promise of Rs 2 lakh loan waiver and trust in the woman leader.

The farmers in the constituency, mainly dependent on the cotton crop, have suffered huge losses with incessant rains and lack of rains over the last four years. The Forest minister's laxity in addressing the issues of farmers only worsened their plight.

Watch this space for more updates on Telangana Assembly elections 2018.

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