Hyderabad: They have drawn their daggers again. Hit where it hurts most, is the motto. Three months after they fought a fiery battle in the assembly and parliament polls, leaders of various political parties are gearing up for another round of confrontation. This time, for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls.
No one is taking the battle lightly, not even chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. And for a change, he’s not shrieking ‘kuii kuii’ anymore in this election campaign. In the last assembly elections, YSR drew attention by imitating the 108 siren to get a political message across to the electorate in public meetings.
What is more noticeable this time round is that he is placing his hands on everyone who comes within reachable distance to bless them. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has changed his avatar and is trying once again to impress the public with a friendly approach. Once again, he is stooping to conquer.
His principal rival, N Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has also geared up for the battle. While Naidu plans to hit the roads next week, YSR is doing what he is best at during elections - taking up a different avatar. On a visit to the old city at Chandrayangutta he even donned a cap to cut ice with the local Muslim populace.
Not just YSR. They are all back in form again. Three months may be too short a time to recover from campaigning in the hot sun during the assembly elections but they are reliving it all over again.
Communist Party of India (CPI) leader K Narayana who also toured the old city stooped to impress a family by getting hooked on to a ‘hookah’ he found in a house. During the last elections Narayana feasted on chicken in full public view, proclaiming his weakness for the dish.
Desperate to garner some attention, Chiranjeevi too allowed himself to be manhandled by the police during a dharna, notwithstanding the fact that such unusual activity could complicate a health problem.
Doesn’t everyone remember how, just after the assembly elections, when several people died due to contaminated water supplied to Bholakpur at Musheerabad in the city, these ‘concerned’ politicians took their own sweet time to take up the issue.
Yet now, their ‘love’ and concern for people is back in full measure, thanks to the impending GHMC elections.
So, if the railing of the newly opened Sitaphalmandi flyover is precarious at some places, it did not matter to chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy who rushed to inaugurate it. “If people had waited for 13 years for the flyover to be complete, they could have waited some more time for the entire work to be finished,” a local resident said.
While impressing people is of utmost importance to politicians now, hitting below the belt of rivals is equally necessary his season. And they are at it already.
CPM leader B V Raghavulu alleged there were some former naxalites in Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s cabinet prompting Congressmen to hit back to comment about Raghavulu’s ability to think.
Though still smarting under the unexpected defeat at the recent hustings, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader N Chandrababu Naidu has recovered enough to throw darts at the Congress. All this while trying to put out the fire of dissent in his own party caused by former Secunderabad MLA T Srinivas Yadav who is on the warpath with him.
Naidu intends going to the public to convince them that the city had developed more under the TDP rule. So much as it did during the assembly elections, the TDP would be countering the Congress publicity advertisements on television in a manner that is sure to be lapped up by the public.
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