Hyderabad, September 08: With just four days to go for polling in the Tekkali Assembly byelection in Srikakulam district and the tragic demise of YS Rajasekhara Reddy still fresh in the minds of the electorate, the Congress is riding high on the sympathy factor.
It looks to be a formality now, and K Bharati is expected to comfortably beat Telugu Desam Party’s K Atchan Naidu and Praja Rajyam’s Duvvada Srinivasa Rao in the bypoll necessitated by the sudden demise of Congress MLA Revatipati.
The byelection will be held on September 10 and counting will take place on September 14.
Both the TDP and PRP camps seem to have thrown in the towel.
In fact, immediately after the State Government confirmed the death of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, TDP senior leader K Yerran Naidu stopped the campaign he had been waging on behalf of his brother Atchan Naidu. The brothers had taken it up as a matter of prestige, hoping to restore the political fortunes of the family in Srikakulam.
Though they have since resumed the campaign and TDP chief Naidu has dispatched senior leaders from Hyderabad to help out, the outlook is none-toobright.
Meanwhile, Congress candidate Bharati is doing the obvious, courting the voters with the plea: “Elect me to see that Rajasekhara Reddy’s soul rests in peace.’’
-Agencies