The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : ZPTC poll campaign hots up

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Monday, Jul 09, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

ZPTC poll campaign hots up

Special Correspondent

Roja’s roadshows add glamour to electioneering

Two Ministers campaigning for the Congress
Lok Satta candidate in the fray for the first time

SRIKAKULAM: With only two days left for the curtain on the election campaign for the Hiramandalam ZPTC to come down, senior leaders from both the TDP and the Congress descended on the villages where people are busy with farming operations.

Roadshows of film star and TDP senior leader Roja on Saturday, seeking vote to TDP candidate Kalamata Venkata Ramana, added glamour to the electioneering which seemed to have reached crescendo on Sunday. She charged the Congress Government with hoodwinking people by not fulfilling promises made during the Assembly elections.

District TDP president Gouthu Shyam Sundar Sivaji, legislator Kalamata Mohana Rao and Lok Sabha member Kinjarapu Yerrannaidu were among the others who participated in the electioneering.

For the Congress, the responsibility is on Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao and Minister for Forests Satrucharla Vijaya Rama Raju. Both the ministers extensively toured the area on Sunday, explaining various welfare schemes being implemented by the Congress Government in the last three years and seeking support for Dharmana Narayana Rao, the Congress candidate.

Charisma

The charisma of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy with voters was intact and the candidate would win the seat, Mr. Prasada Rao asserted. Mr. Vijaya Rama Rao, who represented Parvathipuram Lok Sabha seat of which Hiramandalam is a part, maintains good relation with the party cadre.

The main fight is between the TDP and the Congress candidates. But the number of votes that the independent candidate G. Simhachalam would poll could tilt the balance.

Key factor

According to observers, G. Simhachalam, sponsored by MLC Gorle Haribabi Naidu, who had served the Congress in various capacities for more than two-and-half decades and was expelled from the party on the eve elections to the Council, would cut into the votes of the Congress. Mr. Gorle Haribabi Naidu still had contacts with the Congress cadre in Hiramandalam which he represented as ZPTC before Council elections.

Another point of interest is the performance of Lok Satta candidate Mohan Rao.

It is for the first time that a candidate of Lok Satta, advocating clean politics, candidate is in the field.

There are 31,203 votes in the Hiramandalam ZPTC with women voters outnumbering men.

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