K Chandrasekhar Rao, Vijayashanti hit the campaign trail the most

Hyderabad: The high voltage campaign for the Assembly elections of Telangana state, to be held on December 7, ended on Wednesday.

At least six Chief Ministers, the Prime Minister, several national leaders such as Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Amit Shah, and several Union ministers campaigned extensively over the last 15 days. Telangana’s caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao addressed the most number of public meetings — 87 — followed by the Congress’s star campaigner, actress Vijayashanthi with 70 meetings. 

Mr Chandrashekar Rao started his election campaign in Husnabad and ended it at Gajwel, his home constituencies. Mrs Sonia Gandhi addressed only one public meeting and Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed three.

Mr Yogi Adityanath, Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Mr Devendra Fadnavis  and Mr V. Narayanasamy also campaigned in the state. The campaigns of almost all the political leaders, including Mr Modi, were marked by allegations of all kinds, including personal ones, against their political foes. All opposition parties naturally targeted the TRS government and chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his family rule. The TRS’s main target was AP Chief Minister Naidu.

The Congress, BJP, TD, CPI and the TJS alleged corruption on the part of the ruling TRS government, its failure to implement assurances given during the 2014 Assembly elections, and the family rule of the Chief Minister.

A day before campaigning ended, the opposition had a handy weapon to use against the TRS in the sensational preventive custody of TPCC working president and Kodangal Congress candidate, whose room was broken into at night by a police party because he had threatened to disrupt a meeting to be addressed by Mr Chandrasekhar Rao.

Not surprisingly, parties said little about what they intended to do for voters, so intent were they in pointing out the opposition’s shortcomings. The TRS started its election campaign immediately after the dissolution of the Assembly on September 6 and ended only on Wednesday — much longer than any of the opposition parties.

Irrigation minister in the Telangana caretaker government T. Harish Rao was put in charge of 26 Assembly constituencies, which included important ones such as Kodangal, Gadwal, Mahbubnagar, Alampur and Gajwel from where the incumbent Chief Minister is contesting. 

Mr Harish Rao campaigned extensively in these constituencies and in the final stages of the election campaign was provided a helicopter to make a last visit to these constituencies, though he managed only eight.