Political parties are hiring additional choppers as the demand for star campaigners to boost the prospects of the candidates in Assembly elections has increased even as the election campaign enters the last fortnight in Telangana.
Leaders are on heli-hopping spree, crisscrossing the State since the election notification was announced. While the BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao began his election campaign addressing three to four election rallies a day, the other parties too have fallen in line and hired choppers. The BRS has requisitioned the services of two choppers, of which one is exclusively kept at the disposal of the Chief Minister and the other kept as spare. The second helicopter is used by BRS working president and IT Minister K. T. Rama Rao and Finance Minister T. Harish Rao. KCR, in the first phase of his election campaign, covered more than 50 Assembly constituencies in a span of 18 days. He is now on the second leg of the campaign and crisscrossing the State addressing at least three public meetings.
The BJP has lined up three choppers and of these, one each has been given to BJP national general secretary and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay and the other one is with Election Management Committee chairman Etala Rajender. The third one is used by the central leadership. BJP candidates are keen on the presence of Mr. Bandi Sanjay and Mr. Etala Rajender at their election rallies which has prompted the central leadership to draft two choppers for them.
