With polls in mind, AP parties invent one-liner slogans to engage voters

TIRUPATI: From the 'Teluguvari Atma Gauravam’ to ‘Raavali Jagan; Kaavali Jagan’, the poll-related sloganeering in Andhra Pradesh has come a long way in the past four decades.

With the next AP assembly election expected less than two years from now, major political parties are setting the pitch for the poll battle by chanting humorous and captivating phrases. They are breaking down sound barriers by delivering haunting one-liners and captivating slogans.

The ruling YSR Congress is committed to ‘Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhutvam’ – the name given to the government’s public outreach programme – and new slogans like ‘Why not 175/175’ and ‘First Target Kuppam’. Arch rival Telugu Desam is coming out with strange names for its agitational programmes against the Jagan-led state government.

A popular poll strategist is said to have designed the TD's agitation programmes, which carry titles like 'Ippudu Kakapothe Inkepudu', 'Badhude Badhudu', and 'Mallee Maro Mahila'. The strategist lately came up with yet another slogan, 'Idhemi Karma'.

TD chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu, who says he’s fighting his "last battle" to wrest power in the next assembly elections, recently announced this programme. It appeared to highlight how the people were destined to witness the alleged destruction of AP in various sectors over the last three and a half years.

The Jana Sena, on the other hand, is anchoring its campaign for the 2024 assembly elections on its chief, Pawan Kalyan. During his recent visit to Vizianagaram, he pleaded with the people to give him just one opportunity to run the state. The actor-turned-politician adopted the popular phrase ‘Okka Avakasam’, which created an instant impact on sections of the voters.

Pawan's ‘One Chance’ slogan has instantly become popular thanks to the Jana Sena Party's social media wing. It’s quickly spreading among the people, as the party asks them to give him a chance to “discover the difference.”

While many PK supporters applaud his plea to the public, others felt he stooped to the level of begging the people to vote for his Jana Sena.

Political analysts feel that the fierce slugfest over the poll campaigns meant that political parties offer each other little room for a healthy co-existence. Animosity is the end result. While the YSRC accuses TD and Jana Sena of violating the code of ethics through negative sloganeering, the latter disputes this. They accuse the police department of siding with the ruling party and foisting false cases on the opposition activists and leaders.