Telangana Assembly election 2023: Spotlight on Sircilla, the State’s textile hub

Weavers, including power loom workers, form a formidable force of the total electorate of 2,44,426 in Sircilla constituency.

All eyes are on the key Assembly constituency of Sircilla, the textile hub of Telangana, formerly known as “Sirishala” meaning wealth hub, in the bygone era.

Situated on the banks of the Manair river, Sircilla earned the dubious distinction as the “epicentre” of weavers’ suicides” due to crisis in power loom sector in the late 1990s and early 2000s in the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh.

It shed its negative image and repositioned itself as a major textile hub, home to 30,352 power looms, over the years particularly after the formation of Telangana in 2014.

Working president of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Industries Minister K.T.Rama Rao, who is also the son of the incumbent Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao, is aiming for a fifth straight victory in Sircilla, a Communist party bastion turned BRS citadel.

Veteran Communist leader Chennamaneni Rajeshwara Rao represented the Sircilla constituency five terms - four times (1967, 1978, 1985, 1994) on behalf of the CPI and once (2004) as the TDP candidate.

The constituency is set to witness an interesting battle of ballots on November 30 with the Congress fielding K.K.Mahander Reddy, 62, an advocate by profession, who had contested from Sircilla thrice in 2009, 2010 (by-election) and 2018 elections unsuccessfully.

In 2009, Mr.Reddy, who contested as an independent candidate, lost by a slender margin of 171 votes to Mr.Rama Rao.