Despite the sweltering heat with mercury hovering around 46 degree C, it was business as usual for all the contesting candidates and their campaign managers who rather literally sweated out on the roads vying with each other in seeking votes.
What stood out predominant in the day's proceedings in the temple city was a high profile election meeting, the biggest thus far to be held by any political party - a joint meeting addressed by AICC leader and Andhra Pradesh in-charge, Gulam Nabi Azad, Chief Minister Kirankumar Reddy, and Rajya Sabha member Chiranjeevi.
Needless to say that the trio fired all cylinders at Jaganmohan Reddy and Vijayamma for all the rumpus they are kicking up on the former's arrest by the CBI, as though he had done no wrong.
Chiru's controversial public meetings
What preceded the election meeting of Azad and others was a road-show conducted in the down-town colonies of Tirupati by Chiranjeevi, which though was useful, however turned out to be controversial with the EC's ‘Surveillance Team' reportedly complaining to the Returning Officer that though he secured permission only for a road show, the Rajya Sabha member had addressed public/election meetings at Thimminaidupalem and another place en route, thus violating the EC guidelines.
Joint conspiracy: Ambati
As for the YSRCP, its spokesperson, Ambati Rambabu, attributed all the travails of Jagan to a ‘joint-conspiracy' hatched out by Kirankumar Reddy in league with the TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu only to hound him out of the political landscape using the CBI as their weapon.
Ambati also criticised that except tall talks, neither Chandrababu nor Kiran though hailed from Chittoor district, did anything tangible to tackle its perennial problems.
In Ambati's entourage in the campaign were the party candidate, B. Karunakar Reddy, party cadres - T. Adikesavulu Reddy, Gunasekhar Naidu and others giving a demo through a dummy EVM to the voters along the route.
Meanwhile the TDP which is keen on winning the Tirupati seat, in view of the high stakes involved for Chandrababu in it as the son of the soil and to score a point over his arch rival, Kirankumar, who is also from the same soil, is bracing itself up for a massive show here on Monday morning with all its BC leaders such as Yerran Naidu, Devendra Goud, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Dadi Veerabhadra Rao and so on to woo the BC voters.
It is as a counter to a similar show hosted last week by the Congress candidate, M. Venkatramana.