The by-election to the Tirupati (SC) parliamentary constituency will be fought on the ‘Jagan vs Janam’ plank, said Rajya Sabha member and senior BJP leader G.V.L. Narasimha Rao. “If elected, the BJP candidate will work for the welfare of ‘Janam’ (the people), but if the YSR Congress Party candidate is elected, he will tirelessly work for the welfare of ‘Jagan’ (meaning Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy),” he said.
Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, he said the Tirupati constituency had witnessed phenomenal development with Central funds and challenged the YSRCP and the TDP to prove him wrong. “It is only with the Central funds that the national institutes, railway tracks, national highways, seaport, industrial zones were developed, but the regional parties continued to blow their trumpet in their favour,” he charged.
Electronic clusters
Citing ‘never before’ allocations, Mr. Narasimha Rao said of the 18 Electronic Manufacturing Clusters allocated across India, three were sanctioned to the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency alone, located in Srikalahasti and Satyavedu segments. Similarly, the Tirupati and Nellore railway stations had been marked for beautification and development on a different plane, he said.
Admitting that the party had failed to some extent in taking the message across to the public, Mr. Rao flayed the erstwhile TDP regime and the present YSRCP dispensation of staking claim over all the projects by trying to hide the Centre’s role.
Indicating that the TDP charisma was on the wane, he remarked that the party’s recent foundation day looked like a mourning meet, with gloom writ large all over. He predicted that it would be the last elections for the TDP in the State, as it was moving towards ‘political extinction’.
