Third Eye: UP's new traffic coordinator, ​​drawing Anand line and battle of close aides in Andhra

New Traffic Coordinator: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is literally guiding BJP’s juggernaut in the state. This was obvious during Rajnath Singh’s roadshow in Lucknow before the defence minister filed his nomination papers, seeking a third term from the seat. As their ‘rath’ got stuck due to road congestion, Adityanath, accompanying Singh on the ‘rath’, took the mic and started giving directions to ground personnel to swiftly move other ‘raths’ and decongest the route. Social media took note of his impromptu role as atraffic coordinator.

Drawing an Anand Line: Local campaign has taken an interesting turn in Anand, with Congress candidate Amit Chavda interacting with villagers and asking them who was providing them free grain. When they replied it was Modi, Chavda asked them to try their luck without the ration card. He pointed out that the BPL stamp that enables them to get free grain has been originally Congress' work. Looks like villagers across Anand are buying his argument.

Battle of Close Aides: May 13 Lok Sabha elections in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, will witness a unique battle of aides — YSR Congress’ Vijaysai Reddy, considered to be a close aide of chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, versus Congress’ K Raju, regarded as a close advisor to Rahul Gandhi. Raju, a retired IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, is currently the party’s national coordinator for SC, OBC, minority and adivasi departments. Giving a tough fight is Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy of TDP-BJP-JSP. He switched from YSR Congress only three months back.