The poll campaign temperatures are set to spike in Andhra Pradesh with YSRCP supremo and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy kicking off canvassing for the forthcoming elections with a 21-day bus tour named 'Memanta Siddham' (We are all ready), on Wednesday from Idupulupaya in Kadapa district.
The bus tour will be Jagan's first election campaign post the announcement of the legislative assembly and Lok Sabha polls by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on March 16.
TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is also busy with election campaigning. He has already completed two days of campaigning in Kuppam, his home constituency.
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Likewise, Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan has also scheduled his election campaign to take off from Anakapalli on March 30. The actor – politician is contesting the legislative assembly election from Anakapalli constituency.
The simultaneous polls for 175 assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh are scheduled on May 13 and the results will be declared on June 4.
Touching 21 districts and 148 Assembly constituencies, Jagan's bus tour will start from Idupulupaya and culminate in the North Andhra region, at the state's eastern extremity.
The ‘Memanta Siddham’ bus tour is a move to enable Jagan to interact directly with people as well as participate in public meetings.
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The first day of the tour on Wednesday will begin with Jagan garlanding the statue of his father and former CM Y S Rajasekhar Reddy at YSR Ghat in Idupulupaya, located in Pulivendula constituency, of which he is the sitting MLA.
Later, the bus tour will traverse through the villages of Vempalli, V N Palli, Yerraguntla, Potladutti and Proddatur town in the constituencies of Kamalapuram, Jammalamadugu and Proddatur.
After a public meeting at Proddatur bypass road, Reddy will end the first day with a night halt at Allagadda in Nandyala district.
On the second day, Reddy’s bus tour will go to Nandyala Parliamentary constituency; on the third day it will be in Kurnool Lok Sabha constituency.
In the first phase, the bus tour will focus on the Rayalaseema region, covering the six districts of Kadapa, Kurnool, Annamayya, Tirupati and Chittoor.
The ruling party has decided to organise election meetings throughout the bus tour everyday to send out a message that "YSRCP is ready in every Parliament constituency and every district."
Further, YSRCP has decided to organise meetings in at least two Assembly segments of a Parliament constituency during the tour.
Reddy will spend time with people and stay overnight in those places.
The tour will touch all the Parliamentary constituencies in the state on a district-wise basis, except those which recently hosted the massive Siddham (ready) election campaign meetings.
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Before the election schedule was announced, the YSRCP chief addressed four massive Siddham poll campaign meetings at Bheemili, Eluru, Anantapur and Medarametla, which were attended by lakhs of supporters.
On Tuesday, Reddy announced the name of YSRCP’s Anakapalli Lok Sabha candidate, which was the last one for the Parliament polls this year. Meanwhile TDP and Janasena are yet to declare the names of a few more of their candidates.
BJP announced the names of all its six Lok Sabha contestants while the announcement of its 10 Assembly candidates is still pending.
