Eying BC votes, YSRCP ferries women in RTC, school buses to Jagan's Kuppam meeting

Kuppam: YSRCP has hired around 1400 RTC and private school buses to ferry people to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's Cheyutha programme at Kuppam in the Chittoor district. An official from the Transport Department said using school buses for political programs is against the government rules. "They should be exclusively used for transportation of school children," he said.

YSRCP has been using private and school buses for party meetings. But this time, the party is using it on a larger scale to make the YSR Cheyutha programme a huge success. With an eye on the Backward Class votes, thousands of women are being ferried in RTC and school buses to the meeting.

Around 60 buses from educational institutions have been seized in the last two days. The vehicles have been kept in the RTC office premises. Drivers allege that the buses have been seized to ferry people to CM meeting.

School buses are for children

Some of the school management raised concerns about the safety of buses. They said school buses are designed to seat children and ferry the general public. There might be chances of damage to the buses.

Ghost town

Kuppam presents a look of a ghost town. All the shops en route to the venue are shut. Shopkeepers have been told not to open shops till the meeting is over. Even the residents have been advised to stay indoors. "We received a message from school management saying that given CM YS Jagan's meeting, we are unable to run buses today. They declared a holiday today. Exams have also been postponed", said a resident of Kuppam.

Mission 175

TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu has been winning from Kuppam since 1989. He won seven times from the constituency. Naidu has a very strong hold in the Kuppam constituency. In the last elections, the YSRCP won 151 out of 175 assembly seats, while TDP won 23.

Jagan is eying 175/175 seats in the next assembly poll. YSRC cadres wrote slogans and put up graffiti. 'Why not 175/175?' and 'First Target Kuppam' graffitis have been daubed on the walls en route to the venue