Andhra Pradesh - Tirupati   

Unusual bonhomie in alliance partners

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI, APRIL 13. An unusual sense of bonhomie is distinctly visible among alliance partners in Chittoor district even as campaigning is gathering momentum.

This is in sharp contrast to the scenario during the last election. The apparent reason for the trend is fear of defeat among leaders as stakes are high for the Congress and the Left parties. A positive fall-out of this trend is that leaders of the Congress have buried their differences in all the constituencies to take on the TDP-BJP combine.

Even the Left parties have given up their tough stance against the Congress and are organising joint campaigns with Congress leaders. In the faction-ridden Tirupati Congress unit where leaders did not see eye to eye with one another previously, now have forged themselves into a strong block. The CPI(M) and the CPI which have a wide network in slums and areas inhabited by working class are in the forefront to support the Congress. Though it is not contesting any seat in the district, the CPI(M) has nominated an observer each in all the 15 Assembly and two Lok Sabha constituencies.

The TDP-BJP combine is also witnessing the same trend. Though the two parties had forged an alliance in the last election, it was not effective as middle rung and grassroots level workers remained indifferent to the deal.

But this time, the combine looks like a coherent unit. It is again the political expediency factor which is keeping the two parties to slug out together to take on the Congress-Left alliance. The BJP candidate for the Tirupati Lok Sabha seat, N. Venkataswamy, and the TDP's Assembly segment candidate, N.V. Prasad, are campaigning together or separately canvassing for each other.

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