VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has cancelled his scheduled public meeting in Tirupati on April 14 for the Lok Sabha byelection due to spurt in Covid-19 cases in Chittoor and Nellore districts.In a letter to the electorate of Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency, Jagan said the YSRC made arrangements for his election meeting on April 14.

“After the health bulletin (released on Friday), I am writing this letter again. Covid-19 cases are on the rise in the country as well as in the State. Yesterday’s bulletin showed that of the 31,892 samples tested, 2,765 came positive with a positivity rate of 8.67 per cent. This is more than the overall positivity rate of 5.99 per cent in the State. Of the total cases, Chittoor accounted for 496 and Nellore 292,’’ the Chief Minister said.

Incidentally, Chittoor witnessed another sharp spike of 740 new infections on Saturday, while Nellore reported a daily count of 133. Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency comprises seven Assembly segments, three are located in Chittoor and four in Nellore districts. Of the total 11 fatalities reported on Friday, four were from Nellore and Chittoor.

“Keeping in view the health and well-being of people and the possible danger of further spike in cases, as a responsible Chief Minister and as your brother, I am cancelling my public meeting scheduled on April 14,” he said. Jagan said as he could not personally meet all seeking their votes, he had written personalised letters to them earlier highlighting the welfare schemes launched by his government for all sections of people and appealed to the electorate to vote for YSRC candidate Dr Gurumoorthy in the bypoll. P4

Oppn parties to go ahead with their campaign

“You should give a better mandate than what you gave to late B Durgaprasad Rao. The majority should exceed 2.28 lakh votes, which Durgaprasad Rao got in the Lok Sabha election,’’ Jagan said and appealed to the electorate to cast their vote for fan symbol.Even as Jagan cancelled his public meeting, Opposition TDP and BJP-JSP combine said they will go ahead with their scheduled electioneering for Tirupati bypoll.
TDP politburo member Varla Ramaiah said they would go ahead with their campaign schedule. “When elections to MPTCs and ZPTCs were held in the State in a single schedule, why cannot the election campaign for Tirupati bypoll be conducted,’’ Ramaiah reasoned.

BJP State general secretary S Vishnuvardhan Reddy also said they are going ahead with the scheduled election meeting of the party’s national president JP Nadda in Tirupati on Monday evening. “We are not going to cancel our scheduled election meeting,’’ he said.