Campaigning for Andhra bypolls ends

The bypolls are being described as the semi-finals before the 2014 Assembly elections. Polling will be held on June 12 while the votes will be counted on June 15.

The arrest of the 39-year-old president of YSR Congress party in a disproportionate assets case became the dominant issue during the campaigning.

With Jagan's arrest, his mother and YSR Congress party's honorary president Y S Vijaya Lakshmi took over the campaign. She was helped by her daughter Sharmila.

Criss-crossing the 12 districts where polls would be held, the mother-daughter duo raised questions about the death of the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in the 2009 chopper crash and alleged that a conspiracy had been hatched against Jagan.

The ruling Congress countered the allegations, asking why they kept silent over the death of Rajasekhara Reddy till now.

Burying the alleged differences following the intervention of party high command, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and state Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana came together to carry out a spirited campaign.

Actor-turned-politician and Congress Rajya Sabha member Chiranjeevi campaigned extensively. Union Minister and AICC in-charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad too joined the campaign. (More)