YSR overtakes Naidu on hitech weblogging

2009

Syed Akbar

Hyderabad, March 22: Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy has overtaken his bete noire Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu in the "hitech race" this general election to woo voters.

Rajasekhar Reddy on Sunday took to weblogging with his maiden "penpricks" recalling the famous visit of Mahatma Gandhi to South Africa, taking pot-shots at the Opposition and exuding confidence that the Congress will win the "gold medal" (bangaru pathakam) in the elections, both State Assembly and Lok Sabha.

"Mr Naidu... bends to every wind," Rajasekhar Reddy says in his first-ever political comment in his blog. He says the TD chief believes that pursuit of power is the only purpose of politics, that any somersault is fair in an election, that all policies are usable and throwable. "Even my worst critics will acknowledge that I have done no somersaults during my time in politics".

This is one electoral score Rajasekhar Reddy made over Chandrababu Naidu, since the latter is known for his hitech publicity stunts. Though the TD supremo introduced online radio and TV webcasting important news and political events for the benefit of Telugu NRIs, Rajasekhar Reddy took him by surprising to launching his own blog.

"YES We Will" proclaims the YSR's blog, apparently as an answer to the "change" theme being talked by film actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi. No political party president in the State has his own blog, though party activists and admirers have set up websites in support of their leaders. MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi is using facebook to spread his views. Rajasekhar Reddy is the first seniormost politician to ever launch a blog. Incidentally, Rajasekhar Reddy's son and Congress candidate for Kadapa LS seat YS Jaganmohan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu's son Lokesh Naidu too maintain their own blogs.

"Mine is a simple vision: make power, water, food and education affordable, and you put money in the pockets of the poor. When the poor have money in their pockets, they will do wonders for our society. They will send their children to school, they will treat their daughters better and they will look after their health. They will take up small enterprise and invest the surplus in the things they need most. A million small enterprises will provide work to a million jobless people. It is not only rich men who can create jobs, small entrepreneurs can create infinitely many more," writes Rajasekhar Reddy.

The Telugu Desam manages as many as a dozen websites, but none of them is devoted exclusively for general elections. Naidu has a personal website and it can  be accessed through a hyperlink from the TD's website.