Andhra Pradesh - Eluru   

Campaigning for polls peaks in West Godavari

Staff Reporter

Contestants, party workers brave inclement weather

WOOING VOTERS: Activists of the Congress and those of the TDP and the CPI(M) run into one another during the poll campaign at Chataparru in Eluru rural mandal on Thursday.

ELURU: With barely two days left for the D-day, the election cacophony reached a crescendo in West Godavari district. The inclement weather and incessant drizzle of the last two days did hardly dampen the spirit of election workers. Armed with umbrellas, the candidates in the fray for the Zilla Parishad and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies and their supporters hit the streets, braving the drizzle in different parts of the district on Thursday.

For the 46 ZPTCs, 152 candidates representing different political parties and 39 independents 39 are in the fray. As for 887 MPTCs, 2,039 candidates are fighting the election, including 230 independents.

The TDP and CPI(M) have put up a united fight, while the CPI is sailing with the ruling party, in spite of certain hiccups relating to seat adjustments. The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president K. Keshava Rao undertook whirlwind election tours in the district, seeking public support in favour of his party candidates while the TDP has to be content with its local leadership.

Grim battle

The TDP is waging a grim battle to retain its hold over the Zilla Parishad in alliance with the CPI (M). It seemingly hopes infighting within the ruling party will work in its favour even as the Congress is confident of wresting the ZP from the TDP, expecting that free power for agriculture and the on-going Indira Sagar Project continue to fetch it votes in the upland parts. With all the MPTCs from Kolleru belt villages going into the Congress' kit unopposed, the estimates of the TDP and CPI(M) on the possible backlash of Operation Kolleru against the ruling party went awry.

Jeelugumilli ZPTC offers an interesting scene with the presence of the Congress, CPI and the CPI (M) in the election fray. The CPI is engaged in a `friendly' contest with the Congress and the CPI(M). The election here is likely to bring to the fore the tribal/non-tribal disputes in the agency.

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Campaigning for polls peaks in West Godavari

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