The focus has now shifted to polling on Tuesday with high voltage campaigning for bypolls coming to an end at 5 p.m. on Sunday for the 18 Assembly and Nellore LS seats.
The blaring mikes have fallen silent and politicos, who were tired of campaigning in sweltering heat, are now cooling their heels but their blood pressure is continuing to rise since the byelections, touted as mini general elections, would decide their fate for good.
In the history of Andhra Pradesh, no byelection has generated as much heat with leaders of all political parties digging deep into their reserves of vocabulary to hit out at their opponents with choicest epithets.
The favourite whipping boy for the Congress and the TDP was YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for his "corruption." The Congress brigades were led by chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana and Rajya Sabha member Chiranjeevi. At one point of time politicos even went to the extent of fomenting caste, religious and regional sentiments to further their interests in the byelections.
The Congress leaders have taken the byelections as a prestige issue because all the seats are theirs. Facing odds, the Congress tried to put up an impressive show but the voters remained as enigmatic as ever, not letting them know whether they were liking or disliking what was being said.
To add more fire power to the Congress campaigning, AICC emissary Vayalar Ravi, Congress state affairs in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad descended on the state and took part in the campaign which was not easy for them. Ravi, in spite of the fact that he was aged, sweated it out under the hot sun. Azad had to forget the cool environs of his home state of Jammu and Kashmir and face the violent sun all the time, picking up a little bit of sun tan in the process.
For the Congress leaders, the byelections are very crucial because they were being monitored directly by AICC president Sonia Gandhi who wants Jagan Mohan Reddy be cut down to size. The task was entrusted to the Congress troika - Botcha, Kiran and Chiranjeevi - who did their best but appeared to have gone nowhere. For one thing, Botcha and Kiran buried the hatchet and worked as a team, which had enhanced the image of the party to some extent. The message to the leaders was clear, either you perform or perish because Sonia Gandhi is not in a mood to forgive anyone and let Jagan grow stronger.
As the campaign trail was nearing climax, the CBI arrested Jagan on May 27 which ushered in campaign of a different kind, building sympathy for him as his mother Vijayamma and sister Sharmila hit the roads. They began from Srikakulam and toured all the constituencies, sowing seeds of doubt in the minds of people that YSR's death was not due to accident and that they suspected a foulplay.
Mother daughter duo managed to pull huge crowds but it remains to be seen if those who had turned to watch her would vote for Jagan Mohan Reddy.
As usual, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu toured all the segments relentlessly to gain support for his party candidates.
Parkal, the lone Assembly segment going for bypoll in Telangana region, showed its uniqueness during the campaign trail as the fight in that segment is mainly between the TRS and the BJP, which claim to be championing the cause of Telangana.
All the parties, which were busy in countering the J factor, had not even tried to highlight the sufferings of the common man during campaign.
Meanwhile chief electoral officer Bhanwarlal said as there are more than 60 percent of sensitive polling stations, foolproof arrangements were made for peaceful conduct of the polls. Nearly 50,000 police and polling personnal were deployed.
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