Ongole: Campaigning sees a lull as candidates count costs

Ongole : Almost all contestants for the Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies from erstwhile Prakasam district have temporarily called off their campaign and are limited to meeting the senior leaders and cadre at their convenient places. A few candidates revealed that the delay to start the campaign is the fear of daily expenditure, up to the polling day.

The YSRCP and the TDP appointed in-charges for the Assembly and parliament constituencies long ago, and they have been working at the ground level since then. The leaders conducted several meetings, including the colony gatherings, division, booth level and community meets. In some places, they even organised foundations and inaugurations of various developmental programmes in a grand manner, just to convey their requests to vote for them.

But the situation changed immediately after the announcement of the Schedule for the general elections in the state. As the ECI scheduled the elections for the Assembly and parliament constituencies in the state in the fourth phase, the candidates have nearly 60 days for the polling day, meaning almost two months of spending and maintaining the cadre. The TDP, BJP and JSP leaders are killing time in the name of forming joint committees for the election campaign in each of the Assembly constituencies, while the YSRCP leaders are preparing for the resumption of the campaign.

An Assembly candidate from the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance in Prakasam district said that he used to incur about Rs 10 lakh per day until before the schedule by ECI. He said that he and his supporters already spent about Rs 3 crores in the name of distributing pushcarts, tricycles and donations to various organisations and communities. If he didn’t take a break for at least 15 days now, he said that he would lose another Rs 3 to 5 crore, which can be useful in the last week of the campaign.

An Assembly candidate from YSRCP said that he and his supporters have already visited every village in his constituency. He said that he and his followers have spent more than Rs 5 crore so far. He said that he almost fainted listening to the schedule by ECI. He said that the scorching summer days ahead would force them to spend more on the campaign. He said all that they could do just to save the expenditure for a few days, but would intensify the campaigning by the month's end, as their president scheduled Bus Yatra in the region.

However, the common man is actively participating in all meetings with the leaders, taking gifts from everyone, but is silent for whom he would vote.