Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Flip side of the bypoll campaign

The prolonged campaign for the byelection to the Visakhapatnam-I Assembly constituency has, no doubt, caused inconvenience to residents of the old city but on the flip side, the candidates have picked up a good habit, which they find hard to kick!

They have got used to walking for long hours in the narrow streets of the constituency during the 100-day campaign.

As the candidates felt the pinch with the expenses mounting in view of the prolonged campaign, the `padayatras' were seen as the best option to rein in the mounting costs.

On the polling day, BJP nominee Kasi Viswanadha Raju was said to have told party workers that he could no longer do without walking every day.

That the Visakhapatnam-I Assembly byelection would pass off peacefully was expected. The dip in polling percentage to such a low level, however, was not expected. As the polling began, what was uppermost in everybody's mind, particularly mediamen, was whether any anti-climactic incident would occur, a la Gandi Babji episode in the February 19 election.

As if by cue, a large number of mediamen converged on the Old Post Office. Several political leaders, including the contestants, came there as if it had some symbolic significance. The gathering grew as the polling drew to a close. Everyone waited for the clock to tick to the magic 5 p.m. After that the crowd melted, heaving a sigh of relief.

Imagine a situation where fishermen would cook and sleep on the port site at Gangavaram. Hitting upon a novel idea to press for their demand, the Gangavaram Matsyakarula Aikya Vedika has decided to protest against continuation of construction work of the private port at Gangavaram with police protection without conceding their demands.

Breathing fire against Minister for Commercial Taxes Konathala Ramakrishna and Pendurthy MLA Tippala Gurumurthy Reddy, Vedika leader Ch. Rajeswara Rao and M. Gurumurthy told reporters on Sunday that due to their inept handling of the situation, their problem had been complicated.

As a final resort, they would lay siege to the project site by inviting fisherfolk from all over the district.

If it was Paravada MLA Gandi Babji whose tantrums in the company of Madugula legislator Karanam Dharmasri just before close on the February 19 byelection to Visakhapatnam-I in addition to the allegations of free flow of liquor and money, led to the countermanding of the byelection then, Bheemunipatnam MLA Karri Sitaramu on Monday caused some anxious moments to the Congress supporters in a similar situation.

APCC president K. Keshava Rao might have called them traps by the Opposition, particularly the Telugu Desam - but Mr. Sitaramu and his friend Dorababu were distributing some packets, which the TDP alleged contained money.

There was some commotion with former Paravada MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy and other leaders rushing to the place and crying foul.

The police who were tailing every top political leader, particularly MLAs, thanks to the past experience, quickly defused the tension as the Congress MLA and his supporters, after all, were opening the packets, which turned out to contain only food.

B.Madhu Gopal, G.V.Prasada Sarma, Santosh Patnaik and Prabhakkar Sharma

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