Former Congress leader and former MP Lagadapati Rajagopal stirred a storm in Telangana after he announced preliminary details of his pre-poll survey he conducted for December 7, the day the state goes to the polls. During his visit to the Tirumala hill shrine, he told media persons that a good number of independents will snatch victory from main parties in the present polls.
He said that eight to 10 out of the total 119 Assembly seats will be won by independent candidates and that he will be releasing two more names in the coming days apart from the two he announced there itself: Bahujan Left Front (BLF) candidate K Shiva Kumar Reddy from Narayanapet constituency in Mahbubnagar district, a Congress rebel candidate, and Anil Jadhav who is contesting as an independent candidate in Boath in Adilabad district.
Following Lagadapati's survey predictions, TRS chief and Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao launched a blistering attack on the former Congress MP saying that these surveys were all trash. Rao used the choicest words to berate Lagadapati, saying that this was the handiwork of 'sannasulu' (sanyasis) who had made all out efforts to scuttle Telangana agitation in the past.
KCR called upon the people not to believe in such 'vekili makili surveys' (baseless, mean surveys).
It is common knowledge that whenever Lagadapati releases election surveys, they become controversial and trigger discussions in political circles. While the Prajakutami alliance, comprising Congress, TDP, TJS and CPI has not reacted on his statements, the TRS chief has launched a full scale attack.
Lagadapati is a former MP who represented Vijayawada constituency. He is better known as 'pepper spray MP' after his sensational act on the floor of the Parliament when he used pepper spray to disrupt the Lok Sabha proceedings at the time of Telangana agitation. He resorted to this as a protest against his party leadership's decision to form a separate Telangana state.
He was a vocal opponent to Andhra Pradesh reorganisation and popularised the slogan of 'Samaikyandhra Pradesh' calling upon people of Andhra and Rayalaseema regions to agitate and pressurise the Congress to stop the state’s bifurcation.
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