Hyderabad: Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy have promised the electorate the moon and though they harped on the new capital of Seemandhra, they avoided mentioning the location for the new capital city fearing a backlash from other cities and regions.
Both leaders totally ignored the Congress and confined their attacks on each other. While Mr Naidu, banking on his record as the chief minister, promised to bring back “Rama Rajyam”, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy promised to bring “Raajanna Rajyam” (return of YSR’s rule) if he was given the chance to rule the state.
Not only the parties, the newspapers and TV channels aligned with either party attacked the other in a series of editorials and stories.
While this is so, the Congress is struggling. The party’s campaign in Seemandhra in fact, was just a formality. AICC president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi addressed a public meeting each in Seemandhra in contrast to Mr Modi who addressed a number of public meetings here.
The prominent leaders contesting in Seemandhra for Assembly are: Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy (Pulivendula), Mr Chandrababu Naidu (Kuppam), Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar (Tenali), former Assembly Speaker K. Prathibha Bharathi (Rajam), former PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana (Cheepurupali), APCC president N. Raghuveera Reddy (Penugonda), actor Balakrishna (Hindupur) and former minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy.
For Lok Sabha, the heavyweights are: YSRC honorary president Y.S. Vijayalakshmi (Visakhapatnam), Union ministers Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy (Kurnool), Kishore Chandra Deo (Araku), Rayapati Sambasiva Rao (Narasaraopet), Daggubati Purandeswari (Rajampet), J.C. Diwakar Reddy (Anantapur) and Ashok Gajapathi Raju (Vizianagaram).
The highlight in the Seemandhra elections is that for the first time in the country’s electoral history, a deceased politician, YSRC’s Shobha Nagi Reddy, is in the fray (from Allagadda Assembly segment.
