As the bypoll campaign reaches final phase, political parties are vying with each other to whip up caste and religious sentiments to win the hearts of voters. In a bid to woo back their traditional vote bank politicos are even going to the extent of arousing regional sentiments.
From the ruling Congress to the Telugu Desam Party, all the major parties are conducting caste-wise meetings in poll-bound constituencies to garner voters’ support.
To achieve this task, parties have roped in their senior leaders to hold meetings with their respective castes.
Deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarasimha has been on a whirlwind tour of bypoll-bound constituencies and participating in the meetings with Dalits to seek their support for the Congress candidates in the byelections.
Rajanarasimha addressed Dalits in Ramachandrapuram segment in East Godavari district and explained them about the welfare schemes being implemented by the state government. He also toured Macharla, Prathipadu constituencies in Guntur district, where the SC votes are crucial for the victory of any candidate. Rajanarasimha promised them that the government was taking all steps to bring in a law for effective implementation of SC/ST sub-plans.
TDP also roped in its senior leaders to take up poll campaign in those areas where the voters of their respective castes were predominant.
TDP MP Nama Nageswara Rao and former minister M Narasimhulu started touring Macherla and Prathipadu from Wednesday by participating in party meetings in villages. These two leaders will also criss-cross Ongole and Udayagiri Assembly constituencies. The party hopes that these leaders will be able to woo the voters of Kamma and SC communities as Nama and Narasimhulu belongs to these communities respectively.
Revanth Reddy and Babu Mohan started visiting Rayadurgam, Anantapur and Railway Koduru constituencies in which Reddys and Dalits were dominant castes. MP Ramesh Rathode will participate in meetings organised to woo ST voters in Macherla and some other segments in North Andhra. The party is also relying on the services of senior leaders like T Devender Goud, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and P Ashok Gajapati Raju to pursue alienated voters of their respective castes. The leaders were even going to the extent of arousing regional and religious sentiments.
It was evident from the statement of Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal that his party was planning to pass a resolution in the state assembly in favour of united Andhra, if Congress wins majority of seats in the bypolls. He made these remarks during a poll campaign in Tirupati on Tuesday. Leaders from minority communities in the Congress led by former minister Mohammad Ali Shabbir were also holding meetings with people of minority communities in poll-bound segments.
Even AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad also tried his bit to woo back the minorities during his campaign trail. While addressing a gathering of Muslims during a road show at Nellore on Monday, he assured that four per cent reservation for Muslims offered by the state government would continue.
In fact, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s recent comments that the sanctity of Tirupati would be lost if people voted for parties other than Congress also drew criticism.
Not to be fall behind in whipping up religious sentiments, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday referred Lord Venkateswara at a public meeting in Rajampeta in Kadapa district. “Gali Janardhana Reddy tried to bribe even Lord Venkateswara by gifting the god a crown worth Rs 48 crore. But, the Lord disapproved of this act and punished him,” Naidu said.
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