About by-polls, Chiru’s new party and fuel taxes

The scorching heat was forgotten for a few days thanks to the blistering pace of political campaigns that dominated media coverage ahead of the May 29th by-polls in the state.

The battle was hard-fought, and this is evident from the record number of poll code violations registered by the Election Commission, and the intense spat between the watchdog and the state administration.

Eenadu and Andhra Jyothi played up these violations, particularly by chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and Congress ministers. The demolition of a school’s compound wall by Congress leaders of Adilabad to make space for Reddy’s election rally and his calling a press conference during the 48-hour ‘no campaign’ period attracted the displeasure and wrath of the EC.

The violations of model code were numerous by the opposition leaders too. TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu was hauled up for addressing an election meeting after 10 pm.

The outcome of the by-elections has stunned Congress leaders hailing from Telangana who had campaigned against Reddy. Now the high command has issued showcause notices to Uppunutala Purushottam Reddy and Hariram Jogaiah, the MP who had attacked the YS government.

For a change, the media itself made news last fortnight when leading Telugu daily Andhra Jyothi attracted the wrath of Dalit activists for terming their leaders as “leaders on hire”. The supporters of a Dalit group MRPS ransacked the newspaper’s in Hyderabad and other district towns. Dalit leader Manda Krishna Madiga has since termed the print and visual media in Andhra Pradesh as anti-Dalit.

The recent announcement by megastar Chiranjeevi’s camp that the future plans of the new party will be made public on August 22, the 54th birthday of the Telugu idol, has kept the media busy through the past week.

The TDP and Congress are keeping their fingers crossed on the prospects of mass desertions to Chiranjeevi’s party. Although efforts are being made to appease the dominant Kapu community, they are yet to come to grips with the problem.

To queer the pitch for them, now the think-tank in the Chiranjeevi camp has also declared its support to the Telangana cause.

Gas-tronomical appeal
The political calculations behind Reddy’s decision not to reduce the tax on fuel but absorb the hike in LPG prices occupied a lot of column centimetres in the Deccan Chronicle and Indian Express. AP has the country’s highest sales tax at 33% on petrol and 22.25% on diesel. That Reddy is willing to sustain an additional burden of Rs356 crore, apart from losing an additional Rs10 crore in sales tax on LPG hike, clearly shows his attention is on women voters hitherto clearly behind the TDP