Leaders in the making, thanks by-polls

Hyderabad, June 7 (INN): The next week by-polls have many unique characteristics tagged to it and has ushered in many a leader to the fore and not without many surprises.

To start with, Congress electioneering, in the past, always centred around Sonia Gandhi as the star campaigner with candidates relegating to second or third rung on the dais. There were a couple of occasions where the PCC chief or chief minister, depending on the stature, would be allowed to speak a word or two.

This time around Congress has thrown open a barrage of leaders on the campaign arena with union ministers Vayalar Ravi and Ghulam Nabi Azad descending on the State and trying to woo the voters.

That was just a beginning. Picking up the threads, Purandeswari, Panabaka Lakshmi, Lagadapati Rajgopal and of course, the star campaigner Chiranjeevi and Vanisri hit the streets in the scorching mid-summer heat.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana, sinking their differences, campaigned with Azad while Mohammad Ali Shabbir and Anam brothers along with a hoard of leaders had the chance to participate in electioneering.

Congress must have changed its course as there was no powerful leader in the state, a pile of heads joined together to make people believe that it is a crowd.

Nellore Parliament candidate T Subbarami Reddy tried to bring in his film contacts and the glitter had lost its sheen mid-way.

For TDP, star campaigners remained in-doors while N Chandrababu Naidu emerged as the sole campaigner.

YSR Congress Party has thrown open new faces in the form of Pulivendula MLA, YS Vijayamma and her daughter Sharmila in the by-poll arena and had a stunning result in terms of crowd pulling. Film star Roja emerged as a challenger to Chiranjeevi in Tirupati.

Smitten by the response, Congress pressed into service their women leaders while spokesperson Renuka Choudhary used her tongue lashing on TV screens.

On the whole, the June 12 by-polls has opened a Leader's Karkhana with many Congress leaders surprisingly getting a chance to carrying out the actual campaigning, something unheard of in the past.

For YSRCP Sharmila and Vijayamma have been the new-found crowd pullers and Chiranjeevi has come of age and learnt the political jargon to the maximum level possible in this bout of campaign.

How much these new comers could achieve can be known only after the verdict.