As the campaign for the byelection to the Tirupati (SC) parliamentary constituency reaches its pinnacle, political parties are trying to reach out to the social groups in an apparent bid to get the votes en bloc.
As every political group has the invisible backing of one major forward caste or the other, the focus now is on appealing to the OBC and SC voters.
Having identified 56 Backward Classes and formed welfare corporations for them, the ruling YSRCP feels it is in an advantageous position with respect to getting the OBC votes.
The chairpersons nominated to the corporations are working overnight to turn the support of their respective communities in favour of the ruling party.
The TDP, which claimed to be the saviour of OBCs till the 2019 elections, is hopeful of winning back their support.
With the Jana Sena Party hoping to get the Balija votes into its kitty, the BJP is projecting how a leader of the OBC category could become the Prime Minister under the BJP rule.
The parties are resorting to serious ‘hair-splitting’ on the caste composition.
Satyavedu, Gudur and Sullurpet have a huge population of Scheduled Castes. Among the OBCs, Yadavs have the highest vote share in the Tirupati Assembly segment, while Mudiraj in Satyavedu, Palle Reddy in Srikalahasti, Padmasali (weavers) in Venkatagiri, fishermen in Gudur and Sarvepalli are known to be the deciding factors.
Similarly, the Dudekula Muslim community, tagged under BC-E category, is widely spread across Srikalahasti, Venkatagiri and Gudur segments.
Every party is holding a closed-door meeting in star hotels with the major communities to seek their support.
The BJP is keen on wiping its ‘anti-Muslim’ tag by reaching out to the community by explaining the achievements of the Central government, especially the abolition of ‘triple talaq’. Similar meetings were held with north Indian communities such as Jains and Kumawats.
