HYDERABAD: With campaigning for the municipal elections set to end at 5 pm on Monday, top leaders of all major parties stepped up their outreach in a last-ditch bid to swing voters in favour of their candidates.
From the ruling Congress, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy addressed five public meetings at Miryalaguda, Choppadandi, Nizamabad Rural, Parigi and Bhupalapally. He also interacted with party candidates, urging them to push hard in the final stretch.
The chief minister sharpened his attack on the BRS and the BJP, while rolling out a slew of assurances to urban voters, particularly on improving civic infrastructure and amenities.
Meanwhile, BRS leaders — led by former ministers K T Rama Rao and T Harish Rao — toured the erstwhile Karimnagar, Medak, Adilabad and Nizamabad districts, among others. They trained their guns on the Congress government, accusing the chief minister of failing to deliver on the six guarantees and other promises made ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
The BJP, too, treated the municipal and corporation polls as a high-stakes contest, keeping in view its ambition to emerge as a serious contender for power in the next Assembly elections. The party deployed several national leaders to woo urban voters.
Party president J P Nadda addressed a public meeting in Mahbubnagar, while Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis held a rally in Sirpur Kagaznagar and took part in a roadshow in Mancherial, which the party hopes to win. Senior leaders, including Union ministers G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, along with state BJP president N Ramchander Rao, participated in multiple roadshows and public meetings across municipalities and corporations.
On the final day of campaigning, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is expected to lead a roadshow or address a public meeting in the erstwhile Medak district, even as the BRS and BJP prepare for a last-minute effort to energise their campaigns.