Those politicians who are emotional are the ones who pay for it as was discovered by YRC Congress candidate for Adilabad Assembly seat Bejjanki Anil Kumar. He has been walking barefoot since September 4, 2009, the day he vowed to remain barefoot until Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Those were politically tumultuous days in the wake of the sudden demise of Mr. Jagan’s father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. “I took the deeksha out of loyalty to Rajasekhara Reddy’s family,” reveals Mr. Anil Kumar adding “it’s painful to walk barefoot though”. Asked about the chances of him sporting footwear again as the party seems to be out of the league in Telangana after bifurcation, he said: “I will do so only when Jagan anna becomes the Chief Minister.”
Rhetoric and hyperboles
In politics, it’s important to strike the right chord at the right time and politicians, not doubt, have mastered this art. They resort to rhetoric to woo voters and, not surprisingly, voters too get carried away by the hyperbolic statements. During YSRC leader Y.S. Sharmila’s road show in Sangareddy the other day, G. Sridhar Reddy, candidate for the Assembly seat, addressing the gathering said that Manjeera water was being supplied to city without considering the needs of the locals. “I assure water for irrigation by hook or crook, even if it means breaking the pipelines, if I am voted to power,” he said. And sure enough, he got a big round of applause by the elated mob.
BJP takes to social media
Social media has become an easy way to reach voters online for political parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party has embarked on a campaign through social media, in addition to the door-to-door canvassing in Kadapa for the party’s Kadapa Assembly constituency candidate Allapureddy Harinath Reddy. Nearly 54,000 voters in Kadapa are active on the social media like Facebook, Twitter etc., and they are being contacted online, BJP’s technical publicity in-charge Vasudeva Reddy said. He and the BJP State executive member O. Srinivasulu Reddy are engrossed in the work and say the exercise is drawing a good response.
