Kadapa, April 07: The fate of the candidates contesting the by-elections in the
Pulivendula Assembly and Kadapa Lok Sabha constituencies, for which polling will take place on May 8, hangs on women voters for the simple reason that they outnumber men.
Interestingly, none of the candidates or the leaders of their parties have broached the subject of women’s welfare and development. No mention of their problems, no assurances or promises to solve them has been made.
What all the contestants and their supporting leaders are doing is yammer about insignificant issues rather than about the problems at hand and how they wish to solve them.
Telugu Desam and Congress leaders describe the by-election as a contest between honesty and corruption, while YSR Congress says it is a contest between self-respect and arrogance, Kadapa vs Delhi or Sonia vs YSR.
Only chief minister N Kirankumar Reddy had spoken about women’s welfare, mentioning about the financial assistance to women SHGs in his lengthy speech. Of Rs 834 crore of Pavala Vaddi loans in five years, he had given Rs 439 crore along during Rachabanda programme and would be giving Rs 600 crore shortly. Except for that statement, there was no mention of women and their welfare in the speeches of the leaders.
Considering that women voters, who number 6,80,566, outnumber male voters, who number 6,48,303, the lapse on the part of the contestants is glaring and may prove costly. Now one has to wait till election results are out to know whom the women voters have chosen as their representatives.
–Agencies