Jagan names 12 ‘common voters’ among YSRCP’s ‘star campaigners’: Homemakers to farmers, auto driver to tailor

Of them, 8 are YSRCP volunteers and 4 are ex-govt volunteers, who figure along with party bigwigs in the list of 37 star campaigners for simultaneous polls

Five of the 12 'common voters' among the YSRCP’s star campaigners at the party office in Vijayawada on Tuesday. (Special Arrangement)

In what seemed to be Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) supremo Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s bid to walk the talk, the YSRCP on Tuesday named 12 “common voters” in its list of 37 “star campaigners” for the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state.

During one of his Siddham campaign meetings held across four districts last month, Jagan had told a rally that voters would be his party’s star campaigners in the upcoming polls. “My true star campaigners are the people of Andhra Pradesh, and I don’t want anyone else,” he had said at the launch of the Siddham campaign.

The YSRCP said these 12 star campaigners represented every section of the nearly 5 crore people of Andhra Pradesh. “It is the YSRCP’s belief that every person of the state is their star campaigner. These individuals, hailing from humble backgrounds, will campaign for the party on the ground and help propagate Jagan’s message till the last mile,” the party said in a statement.

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Most of the 12 voters-turned-YSRCP star campaigners are village-level or ward-based party volunteers in their respective areas. A common factor among them is that they had expressed interest in campaigning for the ruling party.

Challa Eshwari, a homemaker from Mylavaram in the NTR district, said she was “pleasantly surprised” when she received a call on Sunday asking her to be present in Vijayawada at the YSRCP’s camp office. “I am very grateful I have been given the opportunity to help the YSRCP in the election. I am a beneficiary of the Jagan government’s schemes and my life has vastly improved since the TDP was voted out,” she said.

Of the 12 star campaigners, eight are party volunteers – including four homemakers, two farmers, one auto driver and one tailor – while the remaining four are former government volunteers. They are a part of a list that include party bigwigs like Jagan, state education minister Botsa Satyanarayana and Rajya Sabha MP V Vijayasai Reddy, among others.

Terming the move as “historic”, the YSRCP’s Visakhapatnam candidate and ex-MP Botsa Jhansi Lakshmi said, “People are the foundation of a democracy. So it is natural that common citizens be made star campaigners. Like Jagan said, we do not need anyone else other than the people.”

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A ward volunteer from Nellore, Syed Anwar was unaware till Monday that he was picked as one of the YSRCP’s star campaigners. “I was asked to come to Vijayawada. I had no idea about it. I had always wanted to contribute to the YSRCP’s electioneering as I saw first-hand the development in our town. The drains and infrastructure has improved over the past five years,” he told The Indian Express.

However, none of these star campaigners has been assigned any specific tasks so far. The YSRCP has asked them to accompany local and state party leaders when they campaign in their constituencies. “I have been asked to be present during the rallies of MPs, MLAs and ministers. Apart from that, I have not been assigned any specific tasks. I think our vocal support to the party during our volunteering activities has landed us this role,” said Anantha Lakshmi, a homemaker from Rajahmundry.

Significantly, the YSRCP suffered a setback last month over the volunteer system after the Election Commission (EC) directed the state government to stop all political activity of village- and ward-level volunteers. The move had led to a delay in the delivery of pensions and sparked a political slugfest, with the Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) alleging that the delay was caused by a shortage of funds.