Naidu turns proactive

The Telugu Desam party which has been working out strategies for the next general election has come to the conclusion that in the last four and half years the BJP had virtually worked out a plan to show the party in bad light and weaken the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu and implemented it systematically.

It is of the opinion that it had come up with various options and tried to show an olive branch to the truncated state led by TDP, convinced the party and made it praise the Union Government and finally went back on its promise so that the TDP gets a bad name and this had pushed the party into some trouble initially and it had to work out counter strategies to turn the tide against the BJP.

Having successfully done that, the party is now focusing its attention and is working out a clear road map for the 2019 general elections. TDP feels that the notification for the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections would be announced towards end of February. Hence for the first time the party is going to announce names of about 100 candidates in January so that it will give a new confidence to the contestants and they can get into the battle field for campaign and take the achievements to the people of the state. The TDP in fact has been working on this idea for past one year and has been getting various surveys about the performance of the sitting MLAs. Based on the survey reports, the MLAs have been divided into three categories A B and C.

It has also taken another major decision to go alone in the elections. The TDP has been under sharp criticism from TRS, BJP and YSRCP that they never contested polls on their own. Though many thought that the experiment of Mahakutami would be extended to Andhra Pradesh, TDP has now clarified that there would be no alliance.

Naidu had in fact discussed this issue with Rahul Gandhi and the AICC president had left the decision to TDP president Chandrababu Naidu with clear assurance that his decision in regard to alliance would not have any impact on the efforts to form anti-BJP front and that Naidu would continue to play an important role.

Rahul Gandhi seems to be clear in his mind about the strength and weakness of his party in Andhra Pradesh and hence is willing to wait till 2024. The BJP is the only party which feels that it has a stronger cadre compared to Telangana and wants to contest all the 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha seats. It feels like in Telangana it will improve its vote share. But the reality is different.

This means that the State will witness multi-pronged contest. The main fight certainly is going to be between the TDP and YSRCP. If the present ground situation is any indication, the TDP appears to be in a comfortable position.

However, a lot would depend on whether the party would retain all or most of the sitting MLAs or would make changes. Once the names are announced, the internal squabbles would come to fore and there is possibility of some leaving the party and some joining the party from YSRCP. The impact of such developments can be made only as the elections draw closer.

Naidu feels that by announcing the names of candidates in advance would leave him free to concentrate on national politics and make all out efforts to see that the anti - BJP front takes a concrete shape so that the BJP is defeated at any cost at the central level.