HYDERABAD: With just 14 days to go for the end of election campaign period, candidates in the fray for the Parliamentary polls are unable to cover all the villages and towns across the seven Assembly segments in their respective Lok Sabha segments.
They are finding it difficult to even meet voters personally and conduct door-to-door campaigns. At the most, the candidates might be able to organise road shows at major towns within the stipulated time frame.
Covering all the segments is indeed a difficult task especially considering the summer heat. For instance, the TRS pick in Mahbubnagar Maloth Kavitha has been addressing just four meetings in a day. Reportedly, she is set to cover Bhadrachalam, Venkatapuram, Eturunagaram and Govindraopet on Wednesday.
If the TRS government had not gone for early polls, then perhaps, both the Assembly and Parliamentary poll campaigns could have been conducted simultaneously. The Lok Sabha candidates are entirely banking on the support of their respective MLAs now.
Meanwhile, the TRS candidates have an edge over the others taking into consideration the 100 MLAs the party has, including the ones defected from Congress, TDP and other parties.
“It is the responsibility of the TRS MLAs to ensure the victory of its MP candidates,” said TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
As far as the Congress candidates are concerned, the defeated candidates in the respective Assembly segments will have to work hard for their victory. However, these former candidates, who have already spent a lot of money campaigning for the Assembly polls, are not so inclined to tour their constituencies all over again.
It remains to be seen whether the TRS MLAs and the defeated Congress candidates would be able to work wholeheartedly for the victory of the MP candidates of the grand old party or not. Whether or not they do it, they would not be rewarded instantly post polls.
Nevertheless, several TRS MLAs like T Harish Rao, Padma Devender Reddy and others have been touring extensively for their Lok Sabha candidates.
While the TRS, the Congress and the BJP candidates would not face much difficulty during the campaigns due to the popularity of their party symbols, an independent candidate would have a hard time getting his/her symbol known without the help of local MLAs or previous candidates.
“As there is very little time to prepare for campaigns, I am forced to not contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections despite tremendous pressure and support from the people,” former MP G Vivekanand said.
Advantage TRS
Short of time, the Lok Sabha candidates are now entirely banking on the support of their respective MLAs. This gives the candidates of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi an edge over others with its 100 MLAs, including defectors from Congress, TDP and other parties