A group of persons in the remote Vakadu village patiently waited to hear former Union Minister and TDP candidate for the Tirupati Lok Sabha seat Panabaka Lakshmi as her convey meandered through the dusty lanes at dusk.
‘Modi’s assurance’
After greeting them, mostly farmers, Ms. Lakshmi reminded them of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance in 2014 to accord Special Category Status (SCS) to the State for 15 years, a promise to which Lord Venkateswara Swamy was witness to.
In the same breath, she recalled Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s promise in 2019 to force the Union Government to give the coveted SCS if his party was given an overwhelming majority of MP seats.
“'What has happened to the promise of the YSRCP, which had won 22 Lok Sabha seats?” she asked them, when all of a sudden power supply went off.
Switching on the headlights of her sports utility vehicle, Ms. Lakshmi, undeterred by the power-cut, went on with her barrage of questions to the electorate.
Farm Acts
When she asked whether they were getting minimum support price (MSP) for paddy, the gathering said a big “no.”
She went on to explain them that the MSP, not just for paddy but for all major crops, would be thing of the past after the Centre enacted the three farm laws.
The unprecedented price rise of all essential commodities was a result of the skyrocketing prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas, said the former Union Minister of State for Petroleum.
Asking them to exercise their vote judiciously to teach a lesson to the BJP and the YSRCP, which she alleged had belied their hopes.
“The YSRCP has on several occasions backed the anti-people policies of the BJP-led government at the Centre in Parliament,” she alleged, before moving to another village.
‘Cheap tactics’
In the midst of her campaign, she told The Hindu that fearing a defeat in the byelection, the YSRCP was resorting to ‘cheap tactics” such as cutting power supply to the villages she had been visiting as part of the campaign since Sunday.
She said the YSCRCP had not expected the kind of overwhelming response that she was receiving. “Out of fear and frustration, power supply has been cut on two consecutive days during her visits to the villages in Gudur and Sullurpeta Assembly segments of the Tirupati LS constituency in Nellore district,” she alleged.
Wondering why the YSRCP was creating hurdles for her if it was confident of winning the byelection on welfare poll plank, Ms. Lakshmi said, “Television channels are not allowed to telecast her poll campaign in some localities.”
“Is the YSRCP against the TDP candidate or the people of the constituency who are reeling under scorching summer heat?” she asked.
