Nagarjuna Sagar Assembly bypoll: High decibel campaign ends

HYDERABAD: Curtains came down on the high-octane campaign for Nagarjuna Sagar Assembly bypoll on Thursday evening. All three major political parties — TRS, Congress and BJP — are confident of winning. Unlike in the previous bypolls, CM and TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao campaigned. For Congress, the PCC president campaigned, while the BJP even roped in actress Vijayashanthi.

Youngsters Nomula Bhagath (TRS) and P Ravi Kumar (BJP) are facing veteran Congress leader and former Minister K Jana Reddy. If TRS wins the bypoll, it would establish its supremacy over State politics. If the Congress wins, Reddy may also take the reins as PCC chief. The BJP might claim that it is the only alternative to the TRS in the State, if the saffron party’s candidate wins. 

The TRS cadre have pinned hopes on the impact of the CM’s public meeting. TRS leaders averred that their candidate Bhagath would romp home with a huge majority. “Even as the Opposition parties tried to prevent the public meeting by approaching the High Court and even the Election Commission of India, the CM’s meeting was a grand success. A large number of people attended the meeting. We are sure of Bhagath’s victory,” Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy said on Thursday. The Minister asserted that the welfare schemes of the government had reached every household and the beneficiaries would support the TRS candidate. 

Alleging that the ruling TRS was making efforts like distribution of liquor and money, and using police force in the bypoll, AICC Telangana in-charge Manickam Tagore said Reddy would win. BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said BJP would not only win in Nagarjuna Sagar but also in coming municipal elections.