Even as the ruling YSR Congress is close to reaching the half-way mark by winning 22 out of 50 divisions unanimously, the BJP and Jana Sena alliance is sweating out to leave an indelible impression in the temple city in the civic polls.
As the BJP-led alliance is gearing up to stake claim to the ensuing by-election to the Tirupati Lok Sabha seat, winning many divisions in the civic body is quite pertinent ahead of making a mark in the larger political canvas. Though the alliance has fielded candidates only in nine of the fifty divisions, the contest is quite close with the ruling party. The cadre is already campaigning across the nine wards to ensure the victory of their candidates. The major advantage that the alliance claims to be in its favour is that all the candidates are either local to the ward or native residents of the old town, making the voters relate to them easily.
Jana Sena senior leader and PAC member Pasupuleti Hariprasad on Saturday campaigned for BJP candidate Anusha Ramakrishna, who is contesting on behalf of the alliance in the 32nd division covering Sri Kodandarama temple area. “We are not throwing our hat in every ring, but we are quite focussed on where we want to win,” explained party leader and advocate K. Ajay Kumar, who is also from the same division.
Coercion alleged
The alliance is also facing the heat from the ruling party in the form of coercion at the nomination stage and intimidation at the withdrawal stage. “Even in my own 42nd division (Khadi colony), our candidate’s nomination was declared withdrawn, though he was very much in the fray. We had to stage dharna in front of the police station and explain our case to the Returning Officer to get his nomination cleared,” said the party’s State spokesperson G. Bhanuprakash Reddy. He fumed that the YSRC had clearly embarked on ‘undemocratic means’ to win the elections.
