Forget Telangana, parties now change strategy for phase-II

With the exit polls for the first phase of polling in Andhra Pradesh suggesting an undercurrent of anti-incumbency mood, the ruling TDP is making mid-course corrections in its campaign strategies in a bid to regain the ground from an upbeat opposition as the state braces for the second phase of polling slated for April 26, covering the south coastal belt and the Rayalaseema regions.

The Telangana statehood and naxalism, which formed the key poll issues in the first phase of polls, have taken a backseat now with the TDP-BJP combine, rattled by adverse opinion polls, getting into a more aggressive mode warning people that a vote for the opposition Congress would be a 'recipe for disaster'.

While Congress is focusing its campaign on the plight of farmers, neglect of agriculture and other related issues, the ruling party is highlighting the achievements of its government in the last nine years and contrasting it with the 'era of political instability and scams' in the previous Congress regimes.

The second phase of polls, covering 21 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats and 147 out of 294 Assembly constituencies, will also see straight contests as Congress, which had a formidable ally in Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the first phase, is to slug it out on its own strength.

The Congress' Left allies, CPI and CPI(M), have only marginal presence in the politically-volatile south coast and the faction-ridden Rayalaseema regions.

The first phase of polling, held on April 20, had covered the naxalite-affected Telangana and three north coastal districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam.

Aware of the possibility of the 'Telangana factor' playing a major role in unsettling its applecart in the first phase, the TDP, seeking electoral hat-trick for its longest serving chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, is desperately banking on the voters in south coastal belt and the Rayalaseema which have been its traditional stronghold.

In the 1999 polls, the TDP-BJP combine had emerged a clear winner in these two regions, bagging 103 out of the 147 seats while the Congress managed to win 41 while the rest were independents.

The ruling combine will, however, find it difficult to retain the dominant position this time with Congress, facing a do-or-die battle, making all-out efforts to storm the TDP bastions.

Though extremists have, of late, stepped up their activities in the coastal district of Guntur and Nallamala forest area, naxalism does not figure among the poll issues in the constituencies going to polls in the second phase.

Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Congress legislature party leader Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, widely seen as chief ministerial candidate of the Congress, are among the prominent figures in the second phase of polls, both seeking re-election from Kuppam (Chittoor district) and Pulivendula (Cuddapah).

The voting behaviour of East Godavari district will be watched with keenness as it has 21 Assembly seats, the highest in the state. It is said in political circles that whoever wins majority seats in this district will form the government.

In the 1999 polls, the TDP made a clean sweep winning 18 seats, its ally BJP bagged one and the Congress managed to win only one seat while the remaining seat was bagged by an independent.

The neighbouring West Godavari district, with 16 Assembly segments, had also witnessed one-sided contest with TDP bagging 15 of them, leaving the Congress with a single seat.

Unlike in the first phase when emotive issues dominated the poll scene, the basic issues like water, roads and irrigation projects engage the attention of voters in the constituencies going to polls in the second phase.

With the exit poll results altering the campaign dynamics of the major players, Chandrababu Naidu, who is on a whirlwind tour of coastal belt, has stepped up his offensive against the opposition, warning people that if the Congress was voted to power the state will plunge into 'anarchy' and that development will take a backseat.

The Congress leaders, on the other hand, are highlighting the failure of the TDP government in taking up the long-pending Polavaram and Itchampally multi-purpose projects, the lifeline of coastal Andhra, despite its proximity with the NDA government.

In the second phase, the TDP is contesting 17 Lok Sabha and 137 Assembly seats, leaving four Lok Sabha (Rajahmundry, Narsapur, Nellore and Tirupati) and 10 Assembly seats to its ally BJP. The Congress has fielded candidates in all 21 Lok Sabha constituencies while contesting 139 Assembly seats, leaving the rest to the Left parties.

Cuddapah Lok Sabha constituency in the Rayalaseema region, represented by Rajasekhar Reddy's younger brother YS Vivekananda Reddy, is set to witness a keen contest this time with the TDP fielding MV Mysoora Reddy, a former Congress minister who switched over to TDP on the eve of the polls.

The Union minister and veteran film actor, U V Krishnam Raju, seeking re-election from Narsapur, is pitted against former Congress minister Ch Harirama Jogaiah.

A galore of big industrialists are also in the fray in the rich coastal belt. Tobacco barons R Sambasiva Rao (Congress) and V Venkateswara Rao are testing their fortunes in the tobacco-rich Guntur Lok Sabha constituency.

Telugu film producer Aswini Dutt, a close friend of megastar Chiranjeevi, is locking horns with a prominent industrialist L Rajgopal in the prestigious Vijayawada Lok Sabha Seat.