Tirupati: Political buzz up in Kuppam ahead of civic polls

Tirupati: Hectic political activity is on cards in Kuppam as the municipality will go to polls very soon. Political circles are expecting that the notification may be issued for the pending civic body polls in the state before month end as the state election commission asked the officials to finalise the polling stations.

As the TDP president and leader of opposition N Chandrababu Naidu has been representing this constituency since 1989, the first elections to this civic body after it was upgraded as municipality in 2019 assumed significance. Particularly after the debacle in the recently held gram panchayat and mandal/zilla praja parishad elections, the coming municipal elections will be a litmus test for the opposition TDP's popularity in its stronghold.

TDP local leadership was saying that they will bounce back and show their strength in the Municipal elections. They were not considering the defeat in MPTC and ZPTC elections as they boycotted polls. Even in gram panchayat elections, the leaders believed that the people were with them only but the ruling party managed to win the polls with its highhandedness.

Municipal elections will be an opportunity for both the parties to show their strengths ahead of the next Assembly elections in this high profile constituency. TDP is desperately looking for a win in the municipal polls which can be a morale booster for the party not only in the constituency but in the entire state.

On the other hand, the ruling YSRCP wants to further consolidate its strengths by winning the civic body by a huge margin through which they can dash the hopes of TDP. After getting the signals from the State Election Commission about the forthcoming polls, both the parties held hectic parleys. YSRCP local leaders went to Sodum to meet MP P Mithun Reddy and discussed the strategies with him.

The TDP leadership met at Kangundi in the constituency and vowed to make all efforts to win the municipality. The party national president N Chandrababu Naidu's visit to the constituency slated for October 12-14 was postponed due to heavy rains and is now scheduled for October 26-29. The party leadership also discussed the arrangements. In this backdrop, Naidu's visit may focus mainly on Kuppam municipal polls among other issues.

Meanwhile, Jana Sena held a meeting in Kuppam last week in which its local in-charge Dr M Venkataramana and party political affairs committee member Dr Pasupuleti Hariprasad took part. The party also held a huge vehicle rally and sent signals they were also in the race.