Andhra Pradesh   

Parties delay lists to outsmart rivals

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MARCH 28. Political parties in Andhra Pradesh are engaged in a cat and mouse game by holding back announcements of their candidates' lists to gain an edge over their rivals.

With caste, religion and money power playing a significant role in the final outcome, the mainstream parties are waiting for their rivals to show their hand so that they can play their trump card. If a party fields an upper caste candidate in a constituency, the other would like to nominate a person belonging to a community that is dominant in terms of voter strength.

The BJP has even officially announced that "for strategic reasons" it would await the nomination of the Congress candidate from Vijayawada East before finalising its own candidate.

With the deadline for filing nominations for the first phase of elections (March 31) barely three days away, the TDP has nominated only 119 candidates for the Assembly and 19 for the Lok Sabha, the Congress 68 and six, the TRS 21 and three and the BJP 26 and seven.

After releasing its second list on March 25, the ruling TDP remained completely silent on the issue for almost three full days. It was only on Sunday evening that the party announced that it would release the third list at 11.30 pm while the TRS said its second list would be disclosed at the stroke of midnight. The Congress, which was expected to release its second list on Sunday, deferred it by a day.

Apart from playing the game of electoral one-upmanship, political parties are also treading softly, rattled as they are by the widespread dissidence. The leaders are double-checking on their lists to minimise the damage from the dissidents. Moreover, release of the lists late in the night helps avoiding instant backlash from disgruntled elements.

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