HYDERABAD, 25 April 2004 — The no-holds-barred campaigning by the Telugu Desam-BJP combine and the Congress-left alliance for the second phase polls to the state assembly and Lok Sabha ended yesterday evening amid indications that the ruling party is fighting the final round literally with its back to the wall.
Chief Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu and Congress Legislature Party leader Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy concluded their hectic electioneering at 5 p.m. While the Congress mounted an aggressive campaign to wrest power from the TDP, Naidu also sought to whip up emotions in a last-ditch effort to turn the tables on the resurgent rival party.
To checkmate the Congress, Naidu tried to raise the hackles of the voters in south coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions by telling them they would be doomed if the Congress regained power. He warned the people about the adverse impact if the Congress, which has an alliance with the separatist Telangana Rashtra Samithi, grabbed power.
“If the Congress comes to power in the state, TRS will blackmail the Congress and hold the people of coastal and Rayalaseema regions to ransom by stopping the release of water from Godavari and Krishna rivers. They will stop construction of Pulichintala and Polavaram irrigation projects to hurt the farmers in these deltas. Rayalaseema will turn into a desert and coastal Andhra will go dry,” Naidu told Andhra voters.
