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Telugu Desam party’s star attraction Jr NTR has made certain changes in his script while addressing the people through television channels live on Monday.
In his latest speech, Jr NTR added the masala on Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s recent comments describing the settlers of Telangana as foreigners. He wondered whether YSR had not thought about this issue while forging alliance with the TRS before 2004 elections and including the separate Telangana issue in the Congress manifesto.
“He is trying to provoke regional feelings among the people by makingsuch statements,” Jr NTR alleged. He also ridiculed Chiranjeevi’s promise of providing all essential commodities at Rs 100 a packet. “He does not know how much quantity of provisions each family requires. Such a person is making ridiculous promises,” Jr NTR said.
Telugu Desam party president N Chandrababu Naidu has completed his “shashti poothi,” though he did not hold any celebrations.
At a simple function, he cut his cake during his electioneering in Nellore, amidst party workers and leaders. His partymen conducted blood donation camps in his name. However, Shashti Poorthi is an important event in anybody’s life. It is like a rebirth to a person. So, people celebrate it on a grand scale. One does not know why Naidu wanted it a low key affair; but his partymen say he would make it a grand celebration if he comes to power.
CM Vache, Varsham Vache’(CM has come, rain has come), was the new slogan that filled the air when a huge gathering of people spotted the chopper that brought chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy to the town of Uravakonda, 55 km from here, on Monday.
The CM entered Anantapur district as part of his Election Jaitra Yatra after a long gap. Nobody was quite sure when he visited the town last. Some say this was the second visit in the last five years. Anantapur is the only district where the TDP won six assembly segments even when the Congress wave swept the state in 2004.
The TDP is summoning all its energies to increase the tally to ten while the Congress wants to win all the segments. But, the delimitation process, bickerings in the Congress, presence of strong PRP candidates, complaints against the local Congress leaders for skewing all the schemes to benefit only the party supporters, are being used by the TDP as campaign issues.
On Sunday night, there was heavy rain in the constituency, from where Congress candidate Y Visweswara Reddy is pitted in a triangular fight with TDP’s P Keshava and PRP’s G Chennakeshava Rao.
On Monday, Congress leaders tried their level best to portray the coming of rain as a good omen. At the public meeting, the organisers repeatedly asked the public to raise the slogans ‘CM vache, Varsham Vache’.
True to form, a local Congress leader said due to frequent rains in the past five years, the ground water table had risen unimaginably. “Earlier, water was not available even at 60 feet. After Y S Rajasekhara Reddy became the chief minister, we get water just at 30 feet depth,” said a Congress leader.
The pleasant cool weather helped the Congress leaders to mobilize a large crowd for the meeting. The organisers were also helped by the fact that it was also the day of village fair in Uravakonda when people from neighbouring villages throng the town to purchase commodities for the week.
Impressed by the crowds, the chief minister also tried to lift the mood of the people by reminding them of the dry days of the TDP rule. “In the nine years of TDP rule, rains failed. The regime brought all round sadness to the people,” he said, devoting most of his speech to welfare measures like NREGP, pensions, farm loan waivers and Rs 5000 incentives to those who paid loans.
Wherever there is Kamal Haasan there is bound to be some variety and loads of creativity. So, ever since he has announced his movie ‘Eenadu’ with Victory Venkatesh, things have been picking up a lot of excitement on that end. The film is a remake of the Bollywood hit ‘A Wednesday’.
Now, the shooting has been on at the famous Ramoji Film City and there is news arriving that the movie is being made at much higher technical standards than the original. Given the presence of Kamal, it is but natural that there will be a higher degree of precision and perfection.
However, it is not really sure if Kamal is going to introduce any minor changes to the script or take it from the Bollywood directly. Many say that when it is Kamal, there will be variety and most importantly, it is the way he would depict the entire movie with his technical expertise which will change the course.
It’s advantage Maha Kootami in the first phase of elections in the state, if one were to go by the field reports. Though Election Commission has banned conduct of exit polls, several media organisations and independent agencies did their own surveys and came to the conclusion that the grand alliance is better placed than the Congress.
According to these surveys, the Congress would fare badly in Telangana, mainly due to heavy split of the pro-Congress votes and consolidation grand alliance. Though the Praja Rajyam could not make much impact on the rural electorate, it could split considerable number of votes in urban constituencies such as Malkajgiri, Secunderabad, Nizamabad and Warangal. Interestingly, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is fighting it alone in these elections, has also split heavy votes in constituencies like Chevella, Mahbubnagar, Malkajgiri, Secunderabad and Adilabad. If things work out well, the BJP might even bag Secunderabad.
The Congress is likely to win only four seats in Telangana: Chevella, Warangal, Pedapalli and Nizamabad; even Renuka Chowdary’s position is not so good, say the reports. In Mahbubnagar, TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao is likely to scrape through, while his party is expected to win Zaheerabad, Medak and Karimnagar seats. In a couple of other constituencies, the contest would be tough. In all other places, the grand alliance enjoys clear advantage, field level reports say.
In north-coastal Andhra, PRP has eaten into the Congress votes that will help the grand alliance again. Out of five Lok Sabha seats in this region, the PRP might win only Anakapalli seat, but it would indirectly help the grand alliance to bag at least three seats. However, the PRP is expected to establish clear leads in at least 15 out of the total number of 34 assembly segments, sources said.
The first phase polling in the State is over and different political parties and their affiliated dailies predicted that voters’ mandate went in their favour. They are making their own calculations based on their own source of information. Though internally they know in which way the voters’ verdict would be, they are putting up a brave face.
Sakshi, predictably, has predicted that the Congress would not get less than 100 assembly seats out of 154 which went to polling in the first phase. To support its stand, it highlighted the “victory celebrations” of the Congress workers at Gandhi Bhavan. Eenadu and Andhra Jyothy gave clear edge to Mahakootami. In fact, Eenadu’s banner headline “Maha Tadakha” speaks for itself. However, the highlight of the day was Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s controversial comment on Telangana during his Nandyal rally. It kicked up a wide debate all over the state and people are discussing whether YSR is justified in making such a statement. Especially his comment that the people of Rayalaseema would be treated as “foreigners” in Hyderabad if Telangana state is formed, is a clear indication to YSR’s strategy to provoke anti-Telangana sentiment in the other two regions and get maximum benefit to the Congress. But one would definitely ask why the Congress has promised formation of Telangana in its manifesto and even appointed a committee to look into it. It is yet to be seen whether his comments would be of any help to the Congress in the second phase.
Both Eenadu and Andhra Jyothy made every effort to project YSR in the bad light in the wake of his comment on Telangana; while Sakshi gave it a different twist, quoting YSR as questioning whether the Telugu Desam was treating the people of Rayaseema as foreigners by joining hands with the TRS. However, his speech, repeatedly being telecast in the channels, clearly shows that YSR was opposing the Telangana state.
All the dailies, however, have given full marks to Chief Electoral Officer I V Subba Rao and the police chief A K Mohanty for conducting a peaceful and by and large fair polling in the first phase.
The Praja Rajyam said it would win 70 Assembly and 12 Lok Sabha seats in the first phase of polls.
The PR vice-president, Mr T. Devender Goud, on Thursday night said: “We did extremely well in the first phase.
The results will be surprising. The PR would sweep the polls in Telangana and north Andhra regions, which went for elections in the first phase.”
Mr Goud was addressing a media conference in the PR’s central office Along with the PR spokesperson, Mr P. Mitra, in Hyderabad on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, the BJP is hopeful of winning 13 Assembly and three Lok Sabha seats in the first phase of elections. The party leaders said BJP’s emergence as a Telangana icon has helped it.
The BJP spokesperson, Mr N. Rama Chandra Rao, said: “TRS sympathisers also voted for the BJP in Karimnagar and Mahbubnagar.
The overwhelming response is going to help us win good number of seats in Telangana region.”
