The din and dust besides the stench of the verbal diarrhea raised during the three-week long electioneering, considered as one of the most bitter and fiercest fought in a poll battle, settled down with the curtains drawn on the campaign in Telangana today.
Polling will take place for 17 Lok Sabha and 119 Assembly constituencies in Telangana, the 29th state in the country to come into being officially on June 2, will take place on April 30. As many as 267 candidates are in the fray trying their luck to enter the Lok Sabha, while 1682 candidates are in the run for the Assembly seats.
All the major political parties — Congress, TDP, TRS, BJP, YSRCP, CPI, CPM, MIM and Lok Satta – are vying with each other for political supremacy besides AAP making its electoral debut along with a host of other Independents. While the TRS and the MIM are fighting the battle on their own, the Congress entered into an alliance with the CPI, the TDP with BJP and the YSRCP with CPM.
It is also pertinent to note here that the division of the state, which was stoutly opposed in the Seemandhra region, led to the formation of a new political outfit floated by none other than former Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy to cash in on the sentiments of the people for a united state. The party, Jai Samaikyandhra Party, like the AAP entered the poll fray. Even Union Minister and Congress Campaign in charge in the region K. Chiranjeevi’s brother Pawan Kalyan also formed a political party on the eve of the election. Though the party decided to stay out of the fray to avoid splitting of votes, Pawan Kalyan and his party members campaigned for the BJP-TDP alliance.
This election has assumed great importance and attained nation-wide attention as the Congress party is determined and going all out to re-establish its political supremacy by capturing power in the two new states of Telangana and Seemandhra, which as an undivided state, was its bastion since 2004. Moreover there is no denial of the fact that Telangana state was carved out by the Congress with an eye on the elections to win as many Lok Sabha seats as possible with the support of the TRS. .
However, with the TRS going back on its promise and commitment to merge with the Congress after the formation of Telangana state, the Congress has been left in a quandary at a time when it was hoping high to make Rahul Gandhi as the next Prime Minister of the country. Thus the first phase of the elections in Telangana has become more crucial and prestigious for the Congress as what with an expected ally like TRS becoming its foe and trying to dislodge it.
Treating it as a do or die battle for political survival, the Congress left no stone unturned to woo the electorate. All the top guns of the party including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, all the union ministers and senior party functionaries jumped into electioneering all over Telangana.
While Sonia Gandhi addressed four election rallies in two spells, Rahul Gandhi too addressed meetings in two spells in a number of constituencies in four districts. Not to lag behind, the BJP too in a bid to outwit the Congress entered into an alliance with the TDP and even succeeded in securing the services of actor-politician Pawan Kalyan.
All the political parties and their candidates used every known gimmick to garner votes.
STAR CAMPAIGNERS
The star campaigner for the BJP was obviously its Prime Ministerial Candidate Narendra Modi who addressed as many as four election meetings including one with TDP President Chandrababu Naidu and another with Pawan Kalyan. As a matter of fact, he also ensured that Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan resolve any differences and succeeded in making both share the dais with him at one of the biggest rallies in the LB Stadium. He also saw to it that the power star would campaign for both BJP and TDP. Apart from Modi, senior BJP leaders including Sushma Swaraj campaigned for the nominees.
The TDP President Chandrababu Naidu shouldered the burden of taking up extensive campaigning all over the Telangana and was ably assisted in this by his son Lokesh. During the last stage, NTR’s son actor Balakrishna, who is also contesting as TDP nominee in Hindupur of Seemandhra, also campaigned. Unlike in the last two elections, TDP has not utilized the services of NTR Jr, which exposed the continuing family feud among NTR’s kith and kin.
The TRS which was formed to lead the movement for separate Telangana was commandeered in the campaign by the party’s chief K. Chandrashekar Rao and other senior party functionaries including his son KTR and daughter Kavitha, both contesting for assembly and Lok Sabha respectively. As a matter of fact, KCR’s daughter Kavitha is the only woman contestant in the entire 17 Lok Sabha constituencies.
All the political parties tried to attract the electorate by promising the moon to them in their manifestos. Apart from showering various sops, the parties also assured to develop the state as one among the best in the world. TRS promised to make Telangana into a Bangkok, Congress promised to make it a golden state, YSRCP promised even a Washington-type city, TDP assured a Singapore like township etc. Besides these promises, the parties also unabashedly tried to “buy” votes by clandestinely distributing money and liquor. The huge cache of over Rs.125 crores in cash and nearly five lakh litres of liquor goes to speak as to what extent the parties and the contestants were prepared to spend.
However, the jarring and disparaging note in the high voltage campaign was that it was a no- holds- barred fight for power. Top leaders of all parties unabashedly washed dirty linen and even went to the extent of making personal attacks on each other. The leaders put to use their oratory skills to take on their rivals besides competing with each other in hurling choicest invectives with the notion that all is fair in love and war.
What is intriguing is that the contesting leaders, who had never before during the last five years, had either visited the constituency nor apprised themselves of the problems of the area, suddenly began to cook at road-side eatery joints, iron clothes, sip chai with the commoners. These gimmicks however did not impress the voters though they came in handy for the shutterbugs.
With the campaign coming to an end, an eerie silence replaced the blaring noise of the loudspeakers, cacophony of the drums and the screeching sloganeering.(NSS)
