Nandyal By-Election: Jagan Takes Potshots At Naidu

The campaigning for the Nandyal Assembly constituency by-election, scheduled for August 23, is heating up seriously.

The two main rivals, the TDP and the YSR Congress Party, are firing on all cylinders for the seat, by-elections for which were necessitated due to the death of the sitting MLA Bhuma Nagi Reddy in March.

YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy was his usual strident and stinging self when criticizing the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and boss of the TDP Chandrababu Naidu, who he sardonically said would promise a car and a kg of gold to each household in the state (referring to Naidu allegedly not coming through with any of his 2014 election promises). He urged the people to follow their conscience while voting.

The TDP on the other hand refers, of course, to all the CBI cases against Jagan, and the fact that he broke tradition by choosing to field a candidate instead of allowing a family member of the deceased MLA to be unanimously elected to the position. They also said that Jagan was flooding the constituency with money to buy votes.

Bhuma Akhila Reddy, a minister in the AP government and daughter of the deceased MLA, also attacked Jagan's ethics, saying her family had stood by the latter's family steadfastly when he was in jail, but now he was attacking them personally and viciously.