Khammam: The battle at Madhira Assembly constituency was like a chess game with Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinvasa Reddy being one of the protagonists.
Mr Ponguleti camped in Madhira for two months and went on a whirlwind tour, and then chalked out a plan to defeat the Congress candidate there. He managed to get the support of some of the Congress leaders in different villages in Errupalem, Chintakani, Mudigonda and Bonakal mandals.
As part of electioneering, he divided every village community-wise and picked up the leaders from them. These leaders were entrusted with responsibilities of bringing voters to the polling booths. All these leaders were given logistical support. Such a strategy was even implemented in Madhira town.
At the same time, Bhatti Vikramarka of the Congress, who was delayed in swinging into campaign, concentrated more on party affairs in other districts. He addressed some public meetings along with actress Vijayasanthi. Many analysed that TRS had got a majority in Mudigonda, Errupalem, Bonakal and Chintakani mandals and it was equal in Madhira town and rural mandal.
Here Bhatti’s strategy outsmarted the design of Ponguleti. He entrusted less responsibilities to the party leaders in different villages.
But the TPCC working president picked up four to five youth in many villages and continued interaction with them even after the commencement of poll.
In this group, there were persons belonging to CPI-M, teachers, scribes, NGO activists and other neutral persons. These youth saw that the voters favoured Bhatti. They succeeded in getting margins in Bonakal Errupalem, Bonakal and Chintakani mandals.
These youth worked seriously from 2 pm to 5 pm on polling day. It worked well and defeated the plans of Ponguleti. The end result was – Bhatti won with the margin of 3567 votes.
