The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : A challenging summer for political parties

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Monday, Apr 14, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

A challenging summer for political parties

S. Nagesh Kumar

YSR gears up for bypolls; feels Chiranjeevi’s entry may not have a significant impact on Congress

YSR has been touring Telangana since April 10
Keen on completing his tour before poll code is enforced

Act swiftly: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy instructing Transco officials and the Adilabad SP to curb theft of copper from electricity transformers during Sunday’s Praja Patham programme at Kosini village in Kagaznagar mandal.

KAGAZNAGAR (Adilabad Dt.): Summer is here and the day-to-day challenges of pursuing a livelihood mount in villages in tandem with the rising temperatures that are not congenial for regular employment.

This summer will be challenging for political leaders too as they not only have to face the Assembly and Lok Sabha bypolls, almost all in Telangana, but also to get their strategies going for next year’s general elections.

Close on the heels of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao who started campaigning in tribal hamlets, Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy has virtually ‘hit the road’ in Telangana since April 10 as part of ‘Praja Patham’, the annual programme aimed at positioning political leaders in villages to stand by people during the difficult summer months.

On Tuesday, he will visit Therlam in Vizianagaram district where another byelection is due. Apparently, Dr Reddy is keen on completing his tours ahead of enforcement of the election code.

Contrary to the dark forebodings by the TRS that the Congress is up to mischief, the Chief Minister reckons that the byelections will definitely be held.

His assessment is based on the fact that bypolls to Khairatabad and Therlam cannot be indefinitely postponed and the Election Commission would prefer to club all the elections together, he told this correspondent.

TDP shaky

Bypolls or general elections, the Chief Minister says his party has struck the right chord with people through its irrigation and welfare programmes, particularly the Rs. 2-a-kg rice scheme. According to him, film star Chiranjeevi’s proposed party is unlikely to significantly impact his party, the TRS’ influence is confined to pockets and the TDP is shaky.

Caught by surprise

On Sunday, Dr. Reddy visited Kosini, a tiny village near here, as part of ‘Praja Patham’ and quizzed the woman sarpanch about the efficacy of his Government’s programmes.

Initially overawed by his presence, she gave a clean chit to the programmes but soon marshalled her wits to demand a road bridge and power supply in one instalment instead of two. To the Chief Minister’s amusement, she disclosed another problem – the electric transformer in her village had been stolen! Wondering how thieves could take away a transformer, Dr. Reddy instructed the SP to nab them forthwith.

Away from a meeting later where he laid 11 foundation stones for projects worth Rs. 160 crore in Adilabad district, a cross-section of people, when interviewed, said they were receiving rice at Rs. 2-a-kilo from ration shops, Indiramma houses were sanctioned though not completed while the pavala vaddi (loans at three per cent interest) scheme was working. Said Tara, a tribal woman belonging to a DWCRA group in Mausam village, “the pavala vaddi scheme has eliminated ‘sahukars’ (money lenders) from my village”.

However, most people do not share the anxiety of political leaders about the polls. Cagey about revealing their political preferences, the common refrain among them is “we will decide when the elections come”.

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