Poaching of leaders picks up in Kuppam

Kuppam(Chittoor district): Poaching has intensified, generating heat in one of the key constituencies in the state, Kuppam, much ahead of the next Assembly elections. To gain psychological advantage over others, both the ruling and opposition party have been luring village level leaders and cadres to switch loyalties and join their fold from the other side.

This remote constituency in Chittoor district has assumed more significance in recent times as ruling party has been putting all efforts to weaken the TDP there because former chief minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has been representing it in the Assembly continuously since 1989.

With this agenda, the YSRCP and in particular the minister for energy, mining, environment and forests Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy, has been leaving no stone unturned to gain upper hand over the TDP. After facing humiliation in gram panchayat and municipal elections in the constituency, the TDP leadership has also become active and trying to motivate its strong cadres to work hard for the next elections.

Against this backdrop, in a morale boosting exercise, TDP leaders have managed to poach several workers saying that they are from YSRCP and took them to party chief Naidu to join them in the party. YSRCP swiftly reacted and brought 100 TDP workers from Kuppam to Tirupati, about 10 days ago, to join them in the party in the presence of Minister Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy. They even displayed their party membership cards at that time.

Again, another batch of 244 TDP workers joined YSRCP in the presence of Ramachandra Reddy in Chittoor on Saturday. The minister welcomed them into the party and said that the schemes of CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy have been attracting several people towards YSRCP which will strengthen the party further. It will record a huge victory in the next elections than in 2019, he said. While Naidu is all set to contest for the eighth successive election from Kuppam, YSRCP has been trying to demoralise TDP cadres by all means. Especially after winning the seriously fought Kuppam municipal elections, minister Ramachandra Reddy started saying that Naidu will be defeated in Kuppam for sure.

He even announced the candidature of MLC K R G Bharath as YSRCP candidate from Kuppam in the recently held party district plenary at Palamaner. As Bharath belongs to Vannekula Kshatriya community, the ruling party was of the view that it will be a major advantage for them as the constituency has a sizeable number of voters from that community.

Earlier, he was also made MLC to make him participate in all government programmes in official capacity while Naidu won't attend such meetings as MLA. The tactics of both the parties will be further intensified in the run up for the next elections.