M. Sribharat, TDP candidate from Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, M. Sribharat of the TDP lost the elections by a whisker to YSRCP’s M.V.V. Satyanarayana. His margin of difference of vote share was less than 1%. Now, he is back again in 2024, this time pitched against YSRCP’s Botcha Jhansi Lakshmi.
In an exclusive interview with The Hindu, Sribharat, who heads the GITAM deemed to be university, was candid in saying that the people of Visakhapatnam are not really concerned whether this city becomes the Executive capital or not, as per chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s ambitious three-capital plan.
The electorate in this Lok Sabha segment is more concerned about good roads, quality drinking water, good traffic management, more flyovers and wider roads and other infrastructural benefits.
“This city, which is called the ‘City of Destiny’, is destined to grow, and making this as the capital city really does not appeal to the people or will have an impact,” he said.
Visakhapatnam is a ‘city of settlers’, and the people will always look for opportunities for themselves and their children. That makes this constituency a unique one in the State.
But on whether the underprivileged also feel that same, he said, “The views are the same. I agree that the underprivileged section might have benefited to some extent from the welfare schemes of the State government, but they are not looking at it now. They also talk about long-term benefits such as industries and investments, which will provide employment opportunities and good amenities. This is where the current State government has failed, and we already have a road map designed by Mr. Naidu to address these issues.”
About the bonhomie among the cadres of the alliance parties at the grassroots, he was forthright in accepting that initially there were some hiccups, but now things are smoothening up.
“The disgruntled elements have been pacified by the party higher-ups, and things are falling into place. Today, our joint campaign has been a success, and we are now focussing on vote share transfer. This is the key factor for the winning equation, and we are ironing it out. We now have a good working relationship among all the three alliance parties,” said Mr. Sribharat.
Talking about his prospects in 2024, he sounded confident he would win by a big margin. In 2019, I lost by just 4,000 votes. I would have won by over 50,000 votes, but we had two spoilers who did not win but took away a solid 1.5 lakh TDP votes from our kitty.
“But this time, out of the seven Assembly segments, we are comfortably placed in at least five seats. One would be a close finish, and in one seat, the going is a bit tough,” he said.
Mr. Sribharat also pointed out the prevailing law and order situation in the State. This is one aspect that needs proper attention. “There is no action on serious crimes, and that is why criminals are getting emboldened,” he said.
On the challenges and the road ahead, he said, “The challenge is to be more organised and use better strategy. The most important part is how to manage the people’s expectations. The opposition party is desperate for a win, and we need to counter that strategically on the polling day.”
