New Delhi: YSR Congress Party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, who turned up early at a voting booth in Andhra Pradesh’s Pulivendula, had a message for first-time voters.

‘Vote for change, vote without fear,’ Reddy said, smiling, his supporters cheering from behind. ‘I am very confident. It will go well I guess. I am pretty sure people are looking for a change. I hope it would happen,’ he added.

Reddy, 46, had earlier said that he prefers a hung parliament instead of the BJP or the Congress getting a clear majority at the centre. However, he said he is open to partnering with any leader or coalition at the centre as long as they give special category status to Andhra Pradesh, reports the ndtv.com.

Reddy is in fact hoping that along with K Chandrashekar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi and All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen or AIMIM, they will together bargain for special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party had pulled out of the NDA government last year, upset over the centre not giving special category status to the southern state.

Naidu has said his battle is against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as regional rivals Reddy and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

Asked if his rivalry with them was separate, Naidu said, ‘All are one, no doubt about it. Modi is protecting Jagan, KCR is supporting Jagan. People are aware. Ask my people’. Telangana, he also said, was working against the interests of Andhra Pradesh.

Voting for assembly and national elections is underway in Andhra Pradesh, along with Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha.