Parties eying Kapu and BC votes
Hyderabad: With the polling day (May 7) approaching fast, political parties are sparing no efforts to woo the voters belonging to backward classes as well as the Kapu community to improve their electoral fortunes in Seemandhra.
As the votes of BCs and Kapus, who constitute a sizeable chunk of population in every constituency in Seemandhra, will decide the fate of every contestant, the Congress, the TDP and the YSRC are adopting various strategies to win over them.
For instance, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu said on Saturday that he would have two deputy chief ministers in the new government in the residual AP, one for BCs and another for Kapus, if his party comes to power.
He made this new promise exactly a day after AICC chief Sonia Gandhi had used 'social justice' plank to win over the SC, BC and minority sections of voters at her public meeting in Guntur on Friday, the first after her decision to bifurcate the state.
Probably, not to give any chance to the Congress to resurrect itself in Seemandhra by using the 'BC card', the TDP chief deployed his party's BC leaders from Telangana in Seemandhra on Saturday to hold meetings with people from backward classes and convince them that the yellow party would stick to its 'social justice' plank, which the party had promised Telangana voters.
As per this strategy, TDP's chief ministerial candidate for Telangana state, R Krishnaiah, undertook a campaign in Guntur district on Saturday in support of TDP candidates.
Addressing meetings of BC organisations at Guntur, Krishnaiah tried to convince people from weaker sections that only the TDP would establish an egalitarian society in Seemandhra state.
'I am holding meetings with the local leaders of backward classes in every Lok Sabha constituency. I will continue to tour Seemandhra to persuade BCs to vote for the TDP,' he said before leaving Guntur for Visakhapatnam to undertake campaigning in north Andhra districts.
Another Telangana leader of TDP, Mothkupally Narsimhulu, too has begun touring Seemandhra to canvass for the party among Dalits. He held meetings with SC leaders in Krishna district on Saturday.
The YSR Congress, which has fielded more number of Kapus in comparison with its rival parties, is also utilising the services of its Kapu leaders such as Ummareddy Venkateswarlu to woo Kapu voters.
As for the Congress, it has been solely relying on Kapu and BC leaders to resurrect the party in Seemandhra. Union minister K Chiranjeevi, a Kapu, has been its poll mascot in Seemandhra whereas another Kapu leader and former minister Kanna Lakshminarayana has been campaigning for the party in southern coastal Andhra.
APCC chief N Raghuveera Reddy Yadav, a BC, is trying to win over the weaker sections by citing his own example of occupying the top post despite his social background so as to convince them that only the Congress can ensure 'social justice' in the truncated AP.
Similarly, SC leaders in the Congress such as AICC SC Cell president Koppula Raju and Rajya Sabha member JD Seelam are trying to woo the SCs, once the traditional vote bank of the Congress, back to the ruling party's fold.
News Posted: 4 May, 2014
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