It is Telugu versus Tamil in Yanam by-election

By R.Jagadeeswara Rao.

RAJAHMUNDRY, JUNE, 29. A keen by-election is in the offing, with issues such as Telugu versus Tamil and local versus non-local having come to fore, at Yanam from where the Pondicherry Chief Minister, Mr P.Shanmugham, of the Congress(I) is seeking to enter the Assembly.

The BJP has fielded Mr. Gollapalli Gangadhar Pratap to challenge the Chief Minister. There are 17,588 voters in this Constituency, half of whom are women.

A victory for Mr.Shanmugam is essential for ensuring the survival of the Pondicherry Ministry. However, the BJP has taken the election as a challenge and brought in senior leaders such as Mr. M.Venkaiah Naidu, party general secretary, and the Union Ministers, Mr.Bandaru Dattatreya and Mr. S.B.P.B.K. Satyanarayana Rao for electioneering. The complacency once seen among the supporters of Mr.Shanmugam, specially the former MLA, Mr.Malladi Krishna Rao, and his men has vanished.

Mr. Shanmugam was depending heavily on the support of Mr. M.Krishna Rao, who had resigned his Assembly seat to enable the Pondicherry Chief Minister to contest. It may be mentioned here that in the last Assembly elections in 1996, the Congress(I) candidate had polled just 3,600 votes against the Independent candidate, Mr.Malladi Krishna Rao's 8,445.

In the subsequent elections to the Lok Sabha, Mr.Krishna Rao threw in his lot with the DMK and TMC candidates and got them majority votes in the Yanam Assembly segment. During the last three elections, his main rival was the Congress(I) candidate. This time, however, he is supporting the Congress(I) candidate, Mr.Shanmugam, ``in the interest of the development of Yanam''. In tune with this stand, he has refused to campaign with the local Congress(I) leaders. Will Mr. Krishna Rao be able to transfer his support base to Mr.Shanmugam? This could be crucial in deciding the outcome of the election.

Both Mr.Rao and the Congress(I) have been exuding confidence about winning the seat with a big margin. However, the BJP was able to make a mark, specially in Yanam town. Thanks to the charisma of the film actor, Mr.U.V.Krishnam Raju, the party's MP from Narsapur, who is in-charge of the elections, big crowds were witnessed at the meetings addressed by the BJP leaders. On the last day of electioneering on Wednesday, both parties had organised big rallies.

The BJP leaders raised issues such as Tamil versus Telugu and local versus the non-local. It remains to be seen whether such issues have impressed the voters. The BJP leaders describe the election as a fight between corruption and honesty. The party is banking more on the urban voters, especially the youth. However, the leaders of the Congress(I), including the Chief Minister, are confident because development is the main plank of their electioneering. Both parties have concentrated on door-to-door campaign in the rural areas.

The administration, in the meanwhile, has completed arrangements for polling at 18 polling stations where EVMs would be installed. Six additional EVMs are being kept as a stand-by. Using mobile vans and organising meetings, officials had sufficiently popularised voting through the EVMs and they are confident that the voters will have no difficulty in exercising their franchise.

The officials have ordered the closure of all liquor shops in Yanam and the surrounding areas such as Tallarevu, Kasaluru and I.Polavaram mandals in the East Godavari district, from June 28 to July 3.

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Section  : National
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