Naidu returns from US, Jagan to return soon from London

Vijayawada: Thelull that was witnessed in the political circles till Wednesday seems to have come to an end. TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu has come back from the US after his post-poll holiday and medical checkups. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is also expected to return from London in the next two day’s time.

Naidu soon after his landing at Hyderabad held a video conference with the party leaders on the measures that need to be taken to train all those who would be present at the counting booths.

He is scheduled to meet Pawan Kalyan and BJP leaders at Amaravati on Thursday to discuss the strategies to be adopted on the day of counting as they feel that the YSRCP could resort to violence despite all the measures being taken by the Election Commission. When asked what his assessment was, Naidu said “be alert.”

On the other hand, the advisor to the state government Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy at a meeting of the counting agents on Wednesday asked the agents not to nod their head to what the EC says on counting day. He said do not follow blindly by the rule position and don’t care about the objections raised by TDP and Jana Sena or BJP agents. “Do anything to see that our votes do not get lost. The party is behind you,” he said. The YSRCP is also likely to approach the High Court on the relaxations given regarding postal ballots authentication.

Interestingly, since no exit polls are allowed before June 1, social media has been buzzing with all kinds of speculations in the name of pre-poll and post-poll surveys which keep swinging from one extreme to another.

Meanwhile, speculation and betting are high on the winning chances of political parties in the state. Some psephologists feel that the results will throw up many surprises. Some of the important leaders of YSRCP particularly in north Andhra, Krishna, and Guntur may lose the elections. They claim that the Alliance would get more seats than what they had expected before the polling took place on May 13 due to various factors. Apart from strong anti-incumbency issues like land titling, Amaravati as capital and successful transfer of votes from TDP to JSP and vice versa as well as vote transfer to BJP could be advantageous for the alliance.

They even claim that in the twin Godavari districts Kapu and Setty Balija voters had gone with the alliance candidates. In Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam also alliance seems to be in advantageous position. However, they add that YSRCP was having advantage in areas like Araku, Vizianagaram and Rayalaseema regions particularly Kadapa, Kurnool and some parts of Anantapur. But then all parties are keeping their fingers crossed till June 4.