Tirupati bypoll campaign ends

Tirupati: Curtains on Wednesday came down on the high-voltage campaign for the prestigious by-election for the Tirupati Assembly constituency, scheduled on February 13. A massive rally by the Telugu Desam Party covering all the arterial roads in the town, padayatra by the Congress led by its state president N Raghuveera Reddy in Rajiv Nagar and road show by Lok Satta in the crowded commercial area of Gandhi road capped the day-long hectic electioneering in the pilgrim town which came to an end at 5 pm on Wednesday.

The ruling TDP, despite knowing well that its stakes are high in the by-election, compared to the other contenders in the fray, deployed a host of top leaders including eight Ministers and more than two dozen leaders including state party functionaries, former ministers and MLAs to ensure a convincing performance in the poll.

Lest, the TDP felt, any poor performance in the by-poll will be construed as a decline in its popularity, giving ammunition to the opposition attack. At the same time, the party didn’t ignore the sympathy factor which it tried to exploit to the hilt in its campaign, by invoking the name of late Venkataramana and sought the voters in every meeting to elect his spouse, M Sugunamma contesting as TDP candidate, to continue his legacy and realise his dream of developing Tirupati.

On the other hand, the Congress not lagging behind went all out in attacking the TDP on its failure to fulfill the poll promises, which it made as the main plank for the party in the by-election. Congress made it clear in the campaign that the intention of the party to contest in the by-election was to expose the TDP on its hollow promises and how it betrayed the farmers, women and youth by not implementing the promises it made to them during the general election.

Forest and Environment Minister Bojjala Gopala Krishna Reddy who was from the district, camped here and monitored the party electioneering while the campaign by Congress party was led by former union minister and senior leader Chinta Mohan.

Undaunted by the revolt by local Congress leaders, who were sored over the candidate selection and stayed away from the campaign, Chinta Mohan, single handedly spearheaded the campaign with the assistance of his trusted followers and group of loyal party workers in the town, brushing aside the bitter and even personal attack from TDP leaders who did not miss any opportunity to dub him as a selfish leader and one who ‘spoiled’ the chance of TDP candidate getting elected without contest. Lok Satta Party candidate K Balasubrahmanyam, along with a group of committed workers, campaigned in the election.