Panabaka Lakshmi, former Union Minster and TDP candidate in the byelection for the Tirupati Lok Sabha seat, performed multifarious roles to impress upon the voters during her hectic campaign braving the scorching summer heat, at Sullurpeta in Nellore district on Sunday.
Giving a go-by to the long-winding speeches, Ms. Lakshmi interacted with small groups of people under the roadside trees as heatwave condition prevailed.
She floored a group of persons by turning herself into a tender coconut vendor. The small gathering was taken by surprise when she cut tender coconuts perfectly and distributed the same among the people before picking up a conversation to understand the local problems.
Promise to youth
Ms. Lakshmi assured a group of unemployed youth that she would ensure that the local people got 75% of the jobs in the Sri City Industrial Park and Apache Footwear manufacturing unit.
She also rode a bicycle for some distance at Tada on the Tamil Nadu border to popularise the party’s poll symbol.
Earlier, she prepared tea and ‘mirapayaka bajji’, the signature snack dish of coastal Andhra, before interacting with the voters.
The residuary State was unable to cope with the bifurcation blues only because of the failure of the Modi Government at the Centre to grant Special Category Status (SCS) and implement the assurances made in the State Reorganisation Act, she alleged.
It was unfortunate that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who had talked big before the 2019 elections, had failed to take up the State’s cause forcefully with the Centre even after the people gave 22 of the 25 MP seats to the YSRCP, she said.
Ms. Lakshmi promised to develop the Nelapattu Bird Sanctury as also the Pulicat Lake, which attract migratory birds, into a international tourist centre when the local people lamented that but for the annual flamingo festival no effective steps were being taken by the authorities to tap the tourist potential.
“Unnerved by the overwhelming response to my campaigns, the ruling YSRCP is playing cheap politics by cutting power supply at places where I canvass,” she alleged.