The Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, which is famous for its bomb culture, witnessed a hectic political campaign without the involvement of bombs for the by election scheduled for May 8. The campaign will come to a close this evening for both Pulivendula assembly and Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency.

All earlier elections in the Kadapa district, except the 2009 assembly elections, were marred by bomb attacks, bloodshed and faction feuds.

Till now, police have not recovered any bomb consignment from any political camp either in Pulivendula or in any other assembly constituency in the Kadapa Lok Sabha segment.

Even in normal times also, bombs are available for just Rs. 60 apiece and they are openly sold at isolated places in villages known for faction rivalries. Sometimes, the makers supply more powerful bombs also depending on your requirements and the rates vary according to size and power of the bombs. They never fail to deliver the goods in time.

Surprisingly, this time the crude bombs are not to be seen anywhere even in the faction ridden villages of Pulivendula, Kamalapuram, Jammalamadugu and Proddatur.

After taking orders from faction leaders, the specialist workers make them in remote villages to escape the police eye and then pack them in neatly looked plastic buckets filled with husk or sand to avoid accidental blasts.

Then, the packed plastic buckets are hidden in haystacks or in cattle sheds to escape police detection. For the May 8 by elections, police however conducted raids on suspicious villages and seized 1,240 licensed weapons and 16 unlicensed weapons. But, the number of unlicensed weapons in the district is estimated to be around 1000. They however failed to seize any bomb consignments.