Every political party has been using all the resources at its disposal to fight the by-elections to Tirupati parliamentary constituency and show their strength. They are not leaving any stone unturned to win the elections.
Since Andhra politics is all about castes, the main political parties are making all out efforts to pamper the various caste groups in the constituency.
In Tirupati, Srikalahasti and Satyavedu assembly segments, voters belonging to Balijas, Reddys and Dalits constitute a crucial vote bank.
Similarly, Venkatagiri, Sullurpet, Gudur and Sarvepalli assembly segments, Reddys and Dalits, followed by OBCs decide the voting pattern.
So, political parties rope in leaders belonging to various caste groups into the campaign in the assembly segments where voters of their caste dominate.
While YSR Congress is fully banking on Reddy, Dalit and minority votes, the TDP and the BJP are vying with each other to tap the vote bank of Balijas.
Had the Jana Sena not supported the BJP, the Balija votes would have gone to the TDP. The BJP made every effort to win the votes of Balijas by cashing in on the popularity of Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan.
What is surprising is that the TDP has not made any effort to win over at least part of the Reddy vote bank. Everybody expected that TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu would rope J C brothers – J C Diwakar Reddy and J C Prabhakar Reddy into the campaign, because they are the only powerful Reddy leaders in Rayalaseema.
The influence of JC brothers was glaringly visible in the recent municipal elections, when they won the Tadipatri municipality with a comfortable margin. The victory has enhanced the image of JC brothers to some extent.
But somehow, they did not show any interest in campaigning for the TDP in Tirupati parliamentary by-elections, though they have the capacity to attract at least a few thousand votes to the TDP.
It is not known whether Naidu did not invite the JC brothers to the campaign or they, themselves, did not show any interest in campaigning in Tirupati. In any case, their absence in the campaign has certainly been felt by the party cadres, say sources.
