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Tirupati: 21 sees intense battle between YSRCP, TDP
YSRCP Tirupati Lok Sabha bypoll winner Dr M Gurumoorthy with party chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy (file picture)
- Back-to-back elections from Feb to Nov result in ruling party establishing a significant lead over the TDP
- The YSRCP is able to penetrate Naidu’s baston Kuppam by successfully winning the municipality
Tirupati: Another year is coming to an end which saw the intensified tussle between the ruling YSRCP and opposition TDP in Chittoor, the tail-end district of Andhra Pradesh and the home to TDP chief and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. On the whole, the year 2021, considered to be an election year, proved to be bitter for the TDP with the domination of the ruling party, which bagged many victories in the back-to-back elections, all the way.
The district was in news as Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency went to polls to elect a new MP following the death of Balli Durga Prasada Rao. TDP put up an intense fight to wrest the seat from YSRCP fielding senior leader Panabaka Lakshmi while YSRCP fielded a newcomer Dr M Gurumoorthy.
Top leaders of both the parties camped in Tirupati for several days which generated much heat in the campaign.
The candidate of BJP and Jana Sena combine K Ratna Prabha and senior Congress leader Dr Chinta Mohan failed in securing even deposits as the main fight was centred around YSRCP and TDP. Though the ruling party won the election with a huge majority it had to face serious criticism of indulging in rigging by deploying thousands of outsiders at the polling booths.
The gram panchayat elections in February, municipal elections and mandal and zilla parishad elections were held in the subsequent months also ended up in giving complete edge to the YSRCP but not without serious controversies of rigging, intimidation and high handedness of the ruling party.
Kuppam municipal elections held in November drew attention of the entire state as former CM and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu has been representing Kuppam constituency in Assembly. Naidu himself campaigned in Kuppam for three days and several senior leaders of the party camped in the town taking it seriously. After the intense fight between the two parties, YSRCP outplayed TDP to bag the municipality and successfully penetrated into Naidu's baston.
Now, TDP chief has focussed on each constituency in the district and is trying to revamp the leadership to prepare the cadre for the next Assembly elections. The process may be completed in the next few months.
YSRCP leader K Bharat from Kuppam was elected to legislative council, while Congress leader Dr Chinta Mohan has been appointed as the special invitee to the Congress working committee. Jana Sena leader Dr Pasupuleti Hariprasad was made its district president. Several ruling party leaders have got nominated posts during the year.
The public meeting held by Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti in Tirupati on December 17 at the end of their 44 days padayatra from 'Nyayasthanam to Devasthanam' evoked good response from the people in which all opposition parties except CPM shared the dais in which TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu also took part. They all expressed solidarity to the agitating Amaravati farmers while Rayalaseema Parirakshana Vedika held another public meeting on the next day in support of three capitals.
