Naidu, Chiru will woo Chittoor

March 5: Chittoor district is in the limelight as the chief ministerial candidates from the Telugu Desam and the Praja Rajyam would contest from Kuppam and Tirupati respectively in the upcoming Assembly polls.
Twenty-five years after N.T. Rama Rao contested from Tirupati, the Praja Rajyam chief, Chiranjeevi, announced his decision
to contest from the constituency.
Elsewhere in Kuppam, it will be the third time that the Telugu Desam chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, will contest as the chief ministerial candidate.
There has been a sea change in the political, economical and social scenario of Chittoor district in the last 25 years.
When NTR filed his nomination from Tirupati, the community feeling was negligible.
The voters were not inclined towards regionalism. The threat of “local vs non-local” faded before the glamour of NTR who won 77 per cent of the votes.
Now, Tirupati is engulfed in a regional feeling. Chiranjeevi has to fight against the Congress, the Telugu Desam and the BJP, with each party having a vote bank across many communities.
Infighting among the Praja Rajyam leaders and disappointment of the actor’s fans for being sidelined would certainly play a key role in deciding the party’s fortunes.
Simultaneously, the political scenario in Kuppam presents a disturbed spectacle for the Telugu Desam chief, Mr Chandrababu Naidu. For the first time, he has to tackle community feelings, uprising among the Backward Classes, strengthening of the Congress and the entry of Praja Rajyam into his bastion.
As both the leaders are chief ministerial candidates, this may lead to adverse results for their parties
in the neighbouring Kadapa district which has
none other than the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, as the candidate.