: “Landslide” is the buzzword making the rounds among the YSR Congress rank and file after the polling ended in Seemandhra on Wednesday.
The party leadership is upbeat over its prospects after making a primary analysis of the polling trend both in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions. A special cell was set up by the party here to assess the voting trend with the help of an exit poll. Hourly analysis of the polling and an exit poll exercise employed by the party has given clear indications of a “clean sweep” for the party, sources in YSRC stated.
High polling percentage recorded in rural areas is being seen as clear advantage to the party over the rival Telugu Desam Party (TDP). “The way polling has taken place is clearly pointing towards landslide victory of the YSRC. The party is likely to win at least 140 seats in spite of all the hype created by TDP on its chances with the help of its friendly media”, senior leader of YSR Congress M.V. Mysoora Reddy said.
Sources said the party’s prospects in Rayalaseema, South and North Coastal Andhra are very high, while the rival TDP has slight edge in Konaseema, Palnadu and Central Andhra areas. “The areas where TDP is little confident can go either way now with the high poll percentage”, a YSR Congress leader said.
On the clashes between TDP and YSRC activists in Rayalaseema and Palnadu, Mr Mysoora Reddy alleged that the TDP had resorted to attacks with the fear of defeat. “It was the TDP that resorted to all sorts of poll irregularities as defeat was starting at them due to a clear wave in favour of YSR Congress,” he noted. They had also been blackmailing the Election Commission authorities by lodging false complaints against YSRC, he alleged.
In fact, it was the YSRC activists and leaders who were targeted at many places by TDP. “One of our party sympathisers was killed in East Godavari district by TDP activists,” he explained.
Jagan affirms victoryKadapa Special Correspondent adds: YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy beamed with confidence at the outcome of today's polling as he thanked voters from Chittoor to Srikakulam districts on conclusion of voting for 25 Parliament constituencies and 175 Assembly constituencies in Seemandhra region.
“It will be a one-sided sweep for YSRC with the people’s overwhelming support and God’s grace,” Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy remarked in Pulivendula. “I was able to relentlessly fight with various forces that worked against me over the last four and a half years because the people are on my side”, he said in Pulivendula. The mood was upbeat in the YSRC camp.
“I appealed to the people to decide between a political party which will wage a fight with the Central government to secure adequate funds for undertaking development and a government which will meekly surrender to the Centre,” the YSRC leader said. He took a dig at the Congress, accusing it of enacting the A.P. Reorganisation Bill in an atrocious manner, “but the BJP and TDP supported the Bill”.
The bifurcation process was undertaken in such a haphazard manner that the outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh read out a letter in Parliament on development of Seemandhra, but its contents did not figure in the Bill, Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy said. The capital city, Hyderabad, which generated 75 per cent of revenue by way of VAT and 60 per cent of Andhra Pradesh revenue, was weaned away from Seemandhra.
