India SocioPolitics

AP Elections: My Watch List (Part 1)

(1) Tranformative Politics at Kukatpally (Hyderabad):

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan will usher in a major transformation of politics in AP and India by winning this MLA seat. The win will not be easy against powerful opponents: Vaddepalli Narsinga Rao of Congress, M. Sudharshan Rao of TRS and Kuna Venkatesh Goud of PRP and M.Kantharao of BJP. These successful businessmen have considerable personal resources as well as support of the established party machinery. They are offering freebies (varaala varshaalu) like free medical insurance, free color TVs, and/or "promise" of separate Telangana etc. Jayaprakash promises equal opportunity for all people irrespective of their socioeconomic background, and good governance. I hope he wins.

(2) Pride of NTR at Visakhapatnam:

Daggupati Purandaeswari - a soft spoken and charming intellectual, author of a book, Congress MP from Bapatla, and current central Minister of State for Human Resources who drew wide attention for her eloquent speeches at international events representing India has moved to this constituency as Bapatla became a reserved constituency. Visakhapatnam voters have been electing outsiders for the past several election cycles starting with T. Subbirami Reddy and N. Janardhana Reddy. This is causing some resentment among locals against the current candidate. Moreover, Chiru fans and PRP (Palla Srinivas Yadav) supporters are likely to give a good flight in many parts of this constituency. However, Purandeswari is successful in getting the support of the two former Congress MPs. It is ironic that this daughter of NTR is flourishing in Congress Party that was an anathema to NTR. She has a good chance to win the seat.

(3) Praja Rajyam Test Case Anakapalli:

PRP sent its number 2 leader Allu Aravind to contest as MP at Anakapalli and fielded its district convener, Ganta Srinivas Rao as MLA candidate. It is interesting that Ganta Srinivas Rao decided to contest against his friend and a senior Congress minister, Konathala Ramakrishna and former colleague Dadi Veerabhadra Rao (TDP). All three are well known in Anakapalli and were elected as MLA or MP at one time, but Dadi and Konathala are local political veterans with deep roots in this constituency. This high stakes contest attracted high profile visits of Rahul Gandhi (first election stop in AP by the "future" PM) and many film stars including Chiranjeevi, Allu Arjun (who celebrated his birthday during the campaign). PRP wins in AKP will signal a PRP wave in north coastal Andhra.

(4) Family Affair in Vizianagram:

Congress is fielding four members of Botsa family: State housing minister Bosta Satyanarayana is in the race for Chipurupalli Assembly seat while his wife Jhansi is seeking election from Vizianagaram Lok Sabha seat. Botsa's younger brother Appala Narasaiah is contesting the Gajapatinagaram Assembly seat while their nephew Appala Naidu is the candidate from Nellimarla. Botsa Satyanarayana shot into fame when he hurriedly wrote a cheque for Rs. 11 cores (2 million euros) to Vashishta Wahan (a fake company) to bring Volkswagen car factory to Vizag. It will be interesting to see if voters will vote 4 members of Botsa family to represent them in the Assembly and Parliament.

(5) Pandering to minortities in Nizamabad:

PCC president and the Nizamabad Urban Assembly candidate, D Srinivas, reportedly stated that “he would sacrifice his head for the minorities if need be and would cut off the hands of those who pointed a finger at them”. For similar offensive language, Varun Gandhi is put in jail under NSA act and the EC advised BJP to drop him from the contest. But the local ECO, I. V. Subba Rao gave only a warning to D. Srinivas, and advised him not to repeat similar statements. D. Srinivas got lucky with the Election commission, but will he get lucky with electorate?

(6) Will of God in Secunderabad:

Sahaja nati Jayasudha believes that if God wants her to win, nobody will stop her. Also she says - "I am not that kind of person - I do not like to pose with poor people to get votes". On pressure from the party, she reluctantly went into streets in a jeep. On one occasion she had to retreat from one location as the local congress leaders did not allow her convoy. She has a simple message: “I’m film actress Jayasudha. I got attracted by the Arogyasri scheme and I decided that I should join the Congress and serve the poor.” she starts off, and adds, “Srinivas Yadav`garu’ won previously. So please give a chance to a woman now. I promise to serve you better.’’ It is a wonder that Congress gave a ticket to a person with such naivety and inexperience. The reason for the ticket appears to be the “common faith” besides cinema glamour. Jaysudha, K. A. Paul, Leo Augustine, Natti Kumar, YSR son-in-law Anil Kumar appear to be mixing politics with faith to derive maximum benefit for themselves and their faith. Jayasudha’s win will point to a new trend of faith politics in AP.

posted by Govinda Bhisetti @ 1:16 PM