This being the padayatra season, the leaders of three parties vying for power in the next Andhra elections have been out there, trying to whip up a little enthusiasm. Reports are that the voters are a bit distracted, having to live their lives.
Of the three leaders—Chandrababu Naidu, Sharmila, and Kiran Kumar Reddy—who have been barnstorming the state lately, the latter’s exercise is the odd one out. First, it is a sarkari show, and not really a padayatra. They are walking—in Lottos—but he’s doing it by car. Then, unlike them, he’s not plugging change. He doesn’t want change. So the voters who came—or were mobilised—to the chief minister’s Indiramma Baata shows this week in Medak district have been of a different sort. While they go to Naidu and Sharmila’s shows to nod wisely, they goes to the chief minister’s to complain. Mallesh from Paturu village is typical; he showed up at Reddy’s Indiramma Baata dera in Narayankhed to make sure the police register a complaint about his missing buffaloes.
-Sunday Standard