Cong jittery over Kapu ‘wisdom’

Vijayawada: Speculations over a large scale of cross-voting by Kapu voters in this part of the region is making candidates jittery here. The candidates took the calculators out and were busy analysing the polling patterns. Most of the candidates, irrespective of the political affiliations, came to a conclusion that Kapu voters had used their “wisdom” and were not swayed by Chiranjeevi mania.

As per post-poll indications, the trend of cross-voting has varied from constituency to constituency and segment to segment. The PRP assembly candidates seem to have gained much from the cross-voting in Krishna district. Sources said that the PRP could win at least four assembly seats. “It has every chance of snatching another two seats in a photo-finish,” a source said. Surprisingly, the PRP nominees were considered weak till the eleventh hour and not even in the election race in most of the constituencies.

A good number of Kapu voters were believed to have preferred Buragadda Vedavyas (Machilipatnam), Myla Veerraju (Pedana), V Srinivas (Vijayawada West) and K Srinivas (Kaikalur) over their respective Congress rivals, even while it would be a close call between PRP and Congress candidates in Vijayawada Central and Gudivada segments.

Sources said PRP leader Vangaveeti Radhakrishna’s game plan to urge Kapus to vote in favour of his friend and Vijayawada LS TDP candidate V Va msi mohan reportedly backfired on him as a majority of voters preferred Congress candidate Lagadapati Rajagopal.

In neighbouring Guntur district, speculations of strong cross-voting by Kapu voters were rife. A large Kapu voter in Guntur city preferred Congress nominees for assembly seats and PRP candidate Thota Chandrasekhar for parliamentary seat.

Curiously, the voters from this community have reportedly preferred Congress candidate V Balasoury for Narasaraopet LS, while casting their votes in favour of PRP for assembly seats