Sweating it out continuously ever since the elections were announced, Roopa Raju Chintalapati, an NRI from the U.S. is in North Andhra campaigning in a specially-designed e-ratham as part of the “Bring Babu Back’ drive launched by the NRI TDP 2019.
“Though people are quite hospitable to receive our team and listen to what Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has done during past five years on a huge digital screen in our vehicle, only thing I found it difficult to adjust is the humid and sultry weather,” she told The Hindu during a campaign near the Central Park here on Monday.
Ms. Roopa, who also owns a few beauty salons and runs an NGO in the city, says facing elections during the summer in the coastal area after staying in the U.S. for a long time is really a Herculean task. “I am managing by banking on tender coconut water and butter milk to beat the heat,” she says.
High-tech campaigning
The provisional coordinator of the AP Non-Resident Telugus (APNRT) for Charlotte (North Caroline) the people with whom she interacted during the campaign told her that “malli Babu garu ravali” (Mr. Babu should come again).
The 12 digital campaign vehicles deployed across the State are tracked on GPS from the NRI TDP 2019 office based at Mangalagiri. During the past 15 days, she has visited 25 Assembly constituencies in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts.
Twelve NRI TDP Digital Prachaara Radhams will cover approximately 90-100 constituencies. Nearly 500 NRIs representing 16 countries, majority from the U.S., are working behind the scene in virtual mode. Close to 1,500 NRIs from all over the world have signed up voluntarily and working free through social media and other forums as part of ‘Bring Babu Back”.
A unique feature is that the NRIs speak virtually through Zoom calls and explain the progress that took place over the past five years in their constituencies and villages and urge people to take a conscious decision for a stable and good government.
The members are mostly technology revolution workers who went to the U.S. and other countries between 1994-2004 owing to Mr. Chandrababu Naidu’s vision for good governance and transparency, Ms. Roopa opines.