The Bharatiya Janata Party has succeeded in deriving political mileage out of the Ramatheertham temple vandalism incident. In this matter, the BJP even outplayed the main opposition party in the AP in taking out protests. Mainly, the BJP did its best to draw public attention in its attempt to visit the temple, despite the YSRCP government trying its best to hinder the dharma yatra called by the BJP and JanaSena Party. With the police having denied permission and house arresting BJP-JanaSena leaders, the issue has turned into a topic of discussion in the state. It is known that the BJP which is branded for its caste and religion-based politics is trying its best to take advantage of the public sentiment through the protests.
Since a week, the issue has become a topic of major discussion in the state and also on social media. Though security has been beefed up at the BJP offices in Vizianagram and Vizag, in some or the other way the BJP leaders managed to draw public attention successfully. Also, the BJP leaders evading police barricades and reaching the entrance arch of Ramatheertham Temple has led to a sensation.
BJP state president Somu Veerraju, Vice President and former MLA Vishnu Kumar Raju, MLC Madhav and BJYM president Ketineni Surendra Mohan’s active presence in the protests led by the BJP has turned a headache for the ruling YSRCP government.
After TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu’s Ramatheertham visit, the TDP leaders confined themselves to holding press meets and social media. Though TDP has four MLAs in Visakhapatnam, they totally failed in cornering the ruling party over the issue. With two MLAs indirectly supporting the ruling YSRCP Party, the other leaders have remained mum. On the other hand, the presence of BJP cadre cannot be compared to that of the TDP which enjoys a huge presence, in spite of this the BJP managed to give a hard time for the YSRCP and the TDP in the city.
