T Congress imitates Karnataka Congress: Will civil society bodies have an impact here?

Remember what the Congress did in Karnataka assembly elections? It formed a consortium of NGOs, social activists and other civic society organisations and used it for the party’s election campaign. The campaign, which went by the name Eddelli Karnataka (wakeup Karnataka) has built a strong network across the state and launched a parallel campaign in support of the Congress Party. This became a serious contributor to the Congress victory in Karnataka.

The Congress has formed a similar NGO-Civil Society group in Telagnana too. Several forums have been floated by the Congress for this purpose. These forums go by the names such as Telangana People’s JAC, Jago Telangana, Bharat Bachao, Telangana Samakhya, Muslim Organisations JAC, Bharat Jodi Abhiyan and others. The joint action committee of all these NGOs and civil society organisations is headed by MF Gopinath, a renowned cardiologist.

Disgruntled former IAS officer Akunuri Murali, former professor and Naxal supporter Haragopal, Leftist feminist Prof. Padmaja Shah, advocate Nirup Reddy and several others are members of this forum. These have given a call to the people of the state to vote out the ruling BRS. Senior journalist Pasham Yadagiri too is a member of this team.

On Sunday, these organisations jointly held a programme in Hyderabad and called for support to the Congress Party. These groups are now planning to visit various parts of the state and campaign for the Congress Party. However, this movement began a year ago in Karnataka and had impacted the voters in a big way. It started quite late in Telangana and it remains to be seen what its impact is going to be.