D Arvind: Ranji Player and a giant killer

By defeating Kalvakuntla Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), in Nizamabad, first timer Dharmapuri Arvind of the BJP shattered KCR's dreams.

KCR wanted Kavitha to represent the TRS in the Union Cabinet if the Federal Front had a chance to form the government at the Centre.

The defeat of KCR’s daughter who also heads the cultural wing of the party was a major shock as only in December last that the TRS won all the seven Assembly seats in Nizamabad parliamentary constituency — she lost by a margin of 71,057 votes.

Arvind’s victory in a constituency with over 3.50 lakh Muslim votes out of the total number of 15.52 lakh votes is attribute to the consolidation of Hindu votes and the warring Turmeric farmers, who even filed nominations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi.

However, Arvind, who runs a real estate business and has played a few Ranji matches for the Hyderabad team, believes that the youth stood behind him.

"The youth particularly those educated were charmed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s programmes and policies. They wanted change and it was a positive vote,” says Aravind, a member of the Telangana BJP’s state executive committee.

A big fan of Modi, the 1976-born says that his grandfather was in Jan Sangh and he inherited that ideology.

“I am a patriot and I can lay down my life for my country and PM Modi,” Aravind said.

He believes that winning four MP seats in Telangana out of 17 with a huge margin is an indication of the people’s belief in the BJP.

“We will strive to capture power in Telangana. No doubt the Opposition parties failed in the last Assembly elections. KCR had advanced the poll. In many places we heard that candidates left the fight in favour of KCR. Today people are united against the TRS,” Arvind said.

Arvind’s father D Srinivas was APCC president in the then united Andhra Pradesh, he later joined the TRS but was thrown out over allegations of anti-party activity.