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Will Praja Rajyam Party president Chiranjeevi become king or king maker?
Going by the indications, the megastar may not realise his ambition of becoming the next Chief Minister, but he will certainly decide the fate of his contenders. His party has done well in several parts of coastal Andhra and also Rayalaseema. Especially in East and West Godavari districts, where his Kapu community is predominant, there was overwhelming voting in favour of the PRP.
If the PRP can win at least 45-50 assembly seats, Chiranjeevi would play the role of king maker, deciding the fate of the Congress and the TDP. While the TDP-led grand alliance has fared better in the first phase, the Congress recovered to a great extent in the second phase; and this might lead to a hung assembly situation.
Cross-Voting May Give Congress More Seats In LS And Fewer In Assembly
Hyderabad: Telugu actor Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party— launched only a few months before the elections were announced— may well go on to decide who will form the next government in Andhra Pradesh.
The turnout was a high 68% in the second and final phase of elections held in 20 Lok Sabha and 140 assembly seats, following up on a similar performance in the first phase.
There were also talks about cross-voting — same person voting for different parties for the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Many believe this will give Congress more seats in the Lok Sabha and lesser in the assembly. ‘‘It’s quite possible that now Chiranjeevi will decide who will become chief minister. But let us not take this as final and wait for the results,’’ said a Congress leader.
Praja Rajyam is likely to cut into the votes of Congress in a majority of constituencies. What seemed to have worked in favour of the newly created party was the ruckus created by Congress supporters on poll-eve in a five-star hotel in Tirupati where Chiranjeevi was staying with his family.
Congress activists alleged that Chiranjeevi had kept loads of money in the hotel to lure voters. “The incident portrayed Chiru as a victim and gained him sympathy,” said the Congress leader.
Congress and the N Chandrababu Naidu-led Grand Alliance are brimming with confidence about their chances in the second round, all the same.
Some political observers even warned of a surprise — the state may be headed for a hung assembly, something never seen before in this part of the world. The first phase of elections was held for 22 Lok Sabha and 154 assembly seats.
On Thursday, voters braved the scorching summer heat — in some places the temperature was over 44 degrees Celsius — to reach polling booths.
There were stray incidents of violence. A Congress worker was killed in clashes with Telugu Desam Party workers in Addanki assembly constituency in Prakasam district. Congress and TDP activists clashed in Kadapa and Chittoor districts.
Repolling was ordered in 24 polling booths in Kadapa, Anantapur, Ongole and Prakasam after miscreants damaged several electronic voting machines.
Elections are over and the fate of political parties is sealed in electronic voting machines. Yet, there are grumblings within the Mahakootami.
Communist Party of India state secretary K Narayana is still angry with his CPI-M counterpart B V Raghavulu for not withdrawing his party candidate in Mangalagiri in Guntur district, which was originally allotted to the CPI. Apparently, he got the hint that the CPI-M candidate has the better chances of winning the seat.
“Raghavulu has forgotten Mitra Dharmam (friendship agreement). He is a worse blackmailer than Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao,” Narayana said. Well, one can imagine the fate of Mahakootami, if it comes to power, with such partners without any mutual trust.
The infamous JC brothers – Diwakar Reddy and Prabhakar Reddy seem to be back in action.
Even as election authorities and police were heaving a sigh of relief over near-peaceful conduct of elections in the state, tension broke in faction-ridden Tadipatri town of Anantapur district on Friday, warranting issue or shoot-at-sight orders by the police.
About 500 Congress workers, led by J C Prabhakar Reddy went on attacking the houses of Telugu Desam Party candidate Peram Nagi Reddy and his followers in Tadipatri and damaged their properties, apart from beating several, burning vehicles and throwing stones.
The TDP men waged counter attacks, forcing the shops and offices pulled down shutters in fear. Following instructions from additional director general of police (law and order) AK Khan, the Anantapur district police issued shoot-at-sight orders in Tadipatri town “Prabhakar Reddy personally approached my polling agents on Wednesday asking them to keep off their duties as agents during polling on Thursday. Unlike earlier, our cadres stood strong against the faction family. This is the result”, said Nagi Reddy.
While chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu are set to take a break after long gruelling days of campaigning, it looks like it is all work and no play for TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao.
While the CM is scheduled to take a one-week break to cool off at Kulu-Manali hill station in Himachal Pradesh next week, Naidu is likely to go to Singapore on holiday. KCR, however, is planning to go to New Delhi on Sunday and interact with Sharad Pawar, Mayawati, Ajit Singh, and some ‘important’ BJP leaders to explore the options for the third front in the national postpoll scenario.
Besides, KCR will meet other party leaders to seek their support for the cause of Telangana. KCR is likely to meet BJP leader L K Advani as the right-wing party had promised to grant Telangana within 100 days of coming to power.
Going by the trends from the second phase of elections, the Praja Rajyam Party is expected to win at least five Lok Sabha seats – Narsapuram, Rajahmundry, Amalapuram, Kakinada and Rajampet; besides Visakhapatnam and Anakapalle in the first phase.
Besides, it hopes to win at least 35-40 assembly seats in the second phase, half of them in East and West Godavari districts, which together comprise 34 seats. In other parts of coastal Andhra -- Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore and also in Rayalaseema, PRP might win a seat or two each, but it played spoiler for the Congress in some assembly segments and the TDP in some others.
According to reports from these districts, the presence of the PRP has helped the TDP regain its hold in Krishna, Guntur and Nellore districts, while the Congress could retain its hold in several segments in Rayalaseema.
K J Rao, former Election Commission official and presently a volunteer of National Election Watch, has once again proved that he is not as sincere as he appears to the people.
Right from the beginning, Rao has been anti-Congress and particularly, anti-YSR. He has petitioned to the Election Commission several times to keep a strict vigil on Kadapa district, particularly Pulivendula, the native of Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. He was the one who was responsible for posting of top police officials in Kadapa district.
On the day of polling, Rao stationed himself at Pulivendula and even complained to the EC that the people were not able to cast their vote freely and fearlessly. However, he chose not to tour Kuppam, nor did he talk about Chandrababu Naidu’s blatant violation of election code. Well, one could know the real colours of Rao, when he started writing column only for Eenadu and appearing only in ETV discussion forums!
Much before anything is announced many moves are taking place basing on assumptions. TRS is assuming that Mahakootami would form the government for sure and the Speaker seat should be retained only by TRS candidate. The inside talk from pink shirts party says that they have got betrayed for a stretch of 5 years in Congress alliance as Speaker belongs to Congress but not to TRS. The mouths of TRS MLAs were shut in Assembly by him, they feel. On the other hand about 10 MLAs have turned in favor of Congress with the influence of Speaker and Kasani Gnaneshwar turned a rebel to KCR and became independent. He also won with the support of rebel candidates. Now, to avoid all this stuff, KCR is thinking that Speaker seat should be given only for TRS candidate than anything else.
For this, TRS is also proposing the name of Vijaya Rama Rao who led as TRS floor leader in Assembly.
Well, it is all like the Telugu adage, “Aalu ledu choolu ledu koduku peru somalingam’. Results have to come out, Mahakootami has to form government to make the wish of TRS keep on platform.
