Turning the tables on Naidu, YSRCP supremo Jagan will visit Kuppam — the former's home turf — in the Chittoor district on 22 September.
Published Sep 14, 2022 | 2:21 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 14, 2022 | 2:23 PM
AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. (Supplied)
Among all the meetings and visits of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy scheduled for the next 15 days, one would be the most keenly watched.
Jagan is literally taking his battle right into the bastion of his opponent and Indian politics veteran: TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu.
Turning the tables on Naidu, Jagan will visit Kuppam — the former’s home turf — in the Chittoor district on 22 September.
In his first visit as chief minister to Kuppam, which has been won by Naidu seven consecutive times over three decades, Jagan is expected to address a public meeting and also lay the foundation stones for several developmental works taken up by the state government at a cost of approximately ₹66 crore.
Ever since the big win of the YSRCP in polls for both urban and rural local bodies, Jagan has been on overdrive, sending a strong message to the cadres of the ruling party and opposition TDP alike on Kuppam.
Determined to defeat Naidu on his home turf, Jagan launched an exercise a few months ago from Kuppam of meeting 50 select party workers from each Assembly segment.
In that meeting, he said Kuppam should be won by the YSRCP, and that it was not difficult.
He was specific about the good work being done by his government for the upliftment of Backward Classes in the state, and their large-scale presence in Kuppam.
Jagan has been telling his cadres to target the win of all the 175 Assembly segments, including Kuppam.
“The game has just begun. Our leader is determined to defeat Naidu in Kuppam, which will be a severe blow to the morale of the TDP cadre across the state,” a YSRCP leader told South First.
Jagan is expected to reach Kuppam on the morning of 22 September in a chopper from Bengaluru and take part in local programmes.
After the TDP’s debacle in the back-to-back polls following a severe blow in the 2019 elections, Naidu had been concentrating on Kuppam, and visited the town at least four times in the last few months. Almost all of his visits stretched for at least two-three days.
Until the last polls, he had never been involved directly in the electioneering, nor had he campaigned personally in Kuppam. His last visit to Kuppam was marked by unrest as YSRCP and TDP cadres clashed.
While YSRCP MLC and party candidate KRJ Bharath alleged that Naidu was trying to stoke violence in the otherwise peaceful Kuppam to regain lost ground, the TDP chief claimed that the YSRCP government was creating terror among people in his segment to turn them towards the ruling party.
Nowadays, whenever Naidu goes to Kuppam, the small town turns into a battleground. That is why Jagan’s visit on 22 September is being keenly watched.
Jagan had entrusted the responsibility to wrest Kuppam from Naidu to Mines Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy. Naidu and Peddireddy’s rivalry in politics dates back decades, ever since they entered politics.
Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy and his son and Rajampeta MP Mithun Reddy are close confidants of Jagan.
Peddireddy’s strategies being ably assisted and executed by Bharath brought big gains for the YSRCP in Kuppam in the last three years.
Peddireddy was successful in driving the YSRCP in Chittoor to win 13 out of the 14 Assembly segments and all three Lok Sabha segments, leaving Kuppam, which had become a face-saver to Naidu. Chittoor is the home district of Naidu.
