The Nandyal bi-election has proved beyond a doubt that the process of elections going forward is going to be an abuse of power at its worst in AP.
Ruling parties always have had the advantage of a helping official machinery, but never before the officials becoming party workers, or worse even better than them.
I realize the supporters of each party would always support their party in the end, but neutrals, the educated, and the (true) intellectuals (and the fake media played ones) have to take notice of what is going on in the present system and think of ways to curb these practices to protect the society for the welfare of its citizens.
Chandrababu and TDP sensed that the result of the election is going to set the trend for the 2019 elections and indulged in several malpractices that even a singular one of them must make the responsible citizens crib with indignity.
For a start, they did not let this bi-election be held along with the last batch of bi-elections to manipulate it. Now that they got enough time they went after some sections of the society to manipulate them using official machinery.
They razed the shops of vaisya community in the name of road widenings and development and told them specifically that the official candidate has to win for them to get compensation for their losses.
They allotted 12000 homes in Nandyal town, had applications filled and signed by the people and were told that the government would approve only if their candidate wins.
They had the banks fill out the paperwork to write off (again?) the loans DWAKRA women and were told in no uncertain terms that it would only happen if the TDP candidate wins.
They used official machinery and their vehicles to move over 100 crores of rupees for to buy the votes and local leaders.
They lifted the cases and rowdy sheets on known criminals for to use to threaten the opposition leaders everywhere.
Chandrababu attended various caste meetings in the capacity of Chief Minister to garner votes, which never happened before in our State.
Chandrababu used the media in the name of press meet to campaign after the cut-off, which never happened before in our State.
The systematic abuse of the systems is going to cause the society to collapse as it happened to other societies. The minimum maintenance of the Law and Order, Justice, and following of democratic norms is necessary for people to follow rules in the society. This is where the fair minded intellectuals (not Jayaprakash Narayan kind of morally bankrupt ones) should step in and start voicing their opposition to the atrocious and criminal behavior of the rulers.
TDP and Chandrababu lost each of the bi-elections that were held between 2009 and 2014, and even worse they lost deposits but for a couple of them. And, Congress party did not abuse the systems this bad and were weak. TDP mostly lost to YSRCP and TRS, who were also in opposition.
To lose an election that was completely abused by Chandrababu and his cronies is no shame on the part of YSRCP or Jagan, to be honest. But, I do believe despite blackmailing of various sections of the constituency, YSRCP is going to prevail by more than 15 thousand majority.
The main reasons would be anti-establishment, anti-TDP corrupt government, the good natured Silpa Mohan Reddy, and mainly relentless effort of the opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who articulated the shallowness of the ruling party and Chandrababu.
So, the State would witness more fights of a Valiant Fighter against a Lifelong Abuser of Systems going forward. Let’s hope that the neutrals and intellectuals would stop the abuser for the sake of the society.
Gurava Reddy, Atlanta
