The Telugu-speaking voters of Berhampur account for over 40 percent of the electorate and are a deciding factor in elections.
Konark Sun Temple in Odisha, India.
What made former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao opt for Berhampur (Brahmapur) in Odisha when he contested the 1996 Lok Sabha election from two constituencies, the first being Nandyal, his home turf?
Rao had just completed his first term as prime minister but was unsure of the outcome of the ensuing elections. With the Congress’s prospects not appearing bright, he thought it wise to hedge his bets even though Nandyal had been faithful to him in the past.
Two critical factors dictated the choice of Berhampur, the political nerve centre of southern Odisha and a major trade hub—first and foremost, the constituency’s sizeable Telugu-speaking population.
Also considered was that the Congress had bounced back to power in the state just a year ago under the leadership of JB Patnaik, who was said to be close to Rao.
JB, in fact, is believed to have convinced the former prime minister to try his luck from Berhampur along with Nandyal. Rao was pitted against the queen of the erstwhile princely state of Khallikot, V Sugnana Kumari Deo, who also spoke Telugu fluently.
As expected, Rao won the contest hands down, defeating the queen (she passed away recently) by a margin of more than 1.68 lakh votes. Rao also won from Nandyal, but he retained Berhampur, which earned the honour of being a VVIP constituency.
The Telugu-speaking populace of Berhampur vociferously protested when the Congress denied Rao a Lok Sabha ticket in 1998, apparently to assuage public anger over the demolition of Babri Masjid.
With the departure of Telugu Bidda, their brief flirtation with fame was over.
Nevertheless, the Telugu-speaking voters of Berhampur, who account for more than 40 percent of the electorate, still retain their clout and continue to be the deciding factor in the elections.
This is equally true of nearly 20 lakh Telugu-speaking people living in areas such as Chatrapur, Parlakhemundi, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Jeypore, and Koraput, most of them located close to the Andhra Pradesh border.
In fact, people on both sides enjoy strong socio-cultural and business ties and are keenly interested in the politics of the two states.
The case of 21 villages under the Kotia gram panchayat of Koraput’s Pottangi tehsil is most curious. Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have staked claim to these villages, which have remained disputed since the 1960s. The area’s residents have not only been receiving the benefits of social security schemes from both governments but also voting in the elections on both sides.
In February 2021, the Andhra Pradesh government held panchayat elections in Patusinri village under Kotia gram panchayat despite protests from Odisha.
The people of the village (renamed Pattu Chennuru by Andhra Pradesh ) queued up at polling booths across the inter-state border even as the Koraput district collector protested with his Andhra Pradesh counterpart.
The Andhra Pradesh government declared Talaganjeipadar and Phagunseneri separate gram panchayats. The sarpanches of these two villages won the elections unopposed.
The Andhra Pradesh government had renamed Talaganjeipadar Ganjayibhadra and Phagunseneri Paguluchennuru in its panchayat poll notification.
As the Kotia dispute has been pending before the Supreme Court since 1968, Odisha accused Andhra Pradesh of contempt of court by holding the panchayat elections in the three border villages.
While the issue continues to fester, Odisha officials admit that administering the Kotia GP was challenging considering its geographical location, giving Andhra Pradesh a distinct advantage.
While the nearest health facility in Andhra Pradesh was just 15 km from Kotia panchayat, Odisha doctors would need to travel around 70 km to reach the panchayat.
Linguistically, Andhra Pradesh also enjoys an advantage in Kotia, where around 60 percent of people speak and understand Telugu, as opposed to 40 percent who speak Odia.
Taking advantage of this, Andhra Pradesh officials have been visiting the panchayat frequently and distributing ration cards and social security scheme benefits among the residents, who, curiously, are having the best of both worlds as they continue to receive similar benefits from the Odisha government as well.
The strong Telugu pockets of southern Odisha, stretching from Berhampur to Paralakhemundi to Koraput, continue to fuel the hopes of political parties in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana about making electoral forays in the state.
At one point, the TDP had almost decided to contest five Lok Sabha and 52 Assembly seats in Odisha in 2019 elections to capitalise on the preponderance of Telugu-speaking people in the state’s southern belt.
The TDP had planned to contest assembly seats falling in Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Gajapati, Ganjam and Nabarangpur districts.
While nearly 70 percent of people in Rayagada speak and understand Telugu, the population of such people in Ganjam and Koraput is around 50 percent.
The party had also considered putting up candidates in Lok Sabha constituencies like Koraput, which it hoped would attract the support of people with an affinity for Andhra Pradesh’s language and culture.
However, with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the ruling party of Odisha, also aggressively wooing the Telugu-speaking voters, the TDP finally decided against making its electoral debut in the state.
The K Chandrashekar Rao-led BRS had similarly tried to get a foothold in southern Odisha by roping in former chief minister and nine-time MP from Koraput Giridhar Gamang, who joined the party in January last year.
On an upswing at the time, the BRS had hoped to cash in on 80-year-old Gamang’s popularity among tribals and the Telugu-speaking people of the region.
However, Gamang, who quit the Congress after his decades-long association with the party in 2015 to join the BJP, quickly became disillusioned with the BRS after the party lost the Assembly election in Telangana in November last year.
Sensing no future in the BRS, Gamang is now back in the Congress along with his wife Hema, a former MP from Koraput, and son Shishir Gamang.
That notwithstanding, there is no denying the clout that Telugu voters enjoy in large parts of southern Odisha. Even the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD has tried to woo them assiduously.
The party had sent N Bhaskar Rao, an influential Telugu leader from Rayagada, to the Rajya Sabha on its ticket in 2016.
In the coming days, more parties will likely bestow similar favours on leaders capable of swaying the Telugu votes in their favour.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in Bhubaneswar. Views are personal.)
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