Elections often throw up curious logics with regard to the fate of political parties or candidates in the fray. Political observers, for instance, contend that the preference of voters can easily be gauged going by the strength and mood of the crowds which flock to helipads whenever a high profile or star campaigner of a given party arrived or left during electioneering.
“The 2014 general election was no different,” observes Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) senior leader in Adilabad B. Goverdhan Reddy. “The sheer number of voters who came to see KCR alighting his helicopter was a sign of their readiness to vote in favour of our party,” he adds presenting a logic.
The contention seems to be correct when facts related with crowd presence during the campaign of Telangana Chief Minister designate K. Chandrashekhar Rao is compared with that of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu and Bharatiya Janata Party president G. Kishan Reddy in this district in April. KCR had drawn the largest and the most enthusiastic crowds during his heli-hopping campaign.
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Mr. Rao had campaigned at nine places in the district on April 20 and the enthusiasm of crowds flocking to helipads at all places was on the higher side. Though the public meetings in the latter half saw some delay in the arrival of the VIP, the TRS leader made it up in the end.
In contrast Mr. Naidu arrived about five hours behind schedule at the beginning of his five stop campaign tour on April 23. The apparently bored gathering thinned considerably by the time he arrived at Bellampally town, the venue of his first election meeting.
Mr. Kishan Reddy also came to Adilabad in a helicopter on April 23 but was received only by a handful of party leaders and activists. The enthusiasm of voters during the public meeting was higher in scale than the TDP president but much less when compared to that of the voters who attended Mr. Rao’s meetings.
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