Nellore: Knowing full well that he is going to compete with one of the most experienced politician, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, at Atmakur constituency, in the ensuing Assembly elections, YSR Congress coordinator for the segment, Mekapati Gowtham Reddy, has been visiting every village in Atmakur as part of a padayatra, the last one month.
The elder son of Nellore MP, Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, Gowtham had not take a break even when he fell sick. He remained in the villages, for Sankranti festival, and became familiar with the region and the people.
He launched the padayatra on December 22 from AS Peta mandal and covered AS Peta, Marripadu, Anantasagaram and Chejerla mandal so far and is entering Sangam mandal on Thursday.
According to information, his yatra has been paying dividends and his chances have improved considerably as per periodical surveys, taken out by YSR Congress.
Sources in YSRC said that their party vote share was 10,000 more than Congress, as per a survey carried out before Gowtham embarked on his yatra and a recent survey after he covered three mandals, has raised the number to above 25,000.
Interestingly a survey by an agency, hired by Congressmen, at the instance of the finance minister last month, indicated that Ramanarayana Reddy is trailing behind Gowtham by over 8,000 votes.
A Congress leader, close to the minister, said that the survey helped the minister to pay special attention to the second rung leaders who were unhappy with him for ignoring them and giving preference to seniors.
Meanwhile, Gowtham Reddy said that the padayatra has been helping him to understand the difficulties of the downtrodden and the underprivileged.
Speaking to this correspondent, he said that he is following the route maps prepared by local leaders in every mandal. He said that his campaign also gave him insight into the party’s strengths and weaknesses in each mandal and to take corrective steps immediately.
“I am preparing a data on the shortcomings in every village, I am visiting, and I want to have a separate manifesto for the constituency with short-term and long-term goals.
There is urgent need to improve the skills of farmers and youth in villages to prevent migration to towns. There is plenty of hidden potential among them. I want to take these issues to the notice of my party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy,” Gowtham said.
He said that he is not afraid of facing the finance minister in the coming elections, while referring to the patronage for his yatra.
“I am counting on my strengths and not on the weakness of rivals,” the young Mekapati asserted.
