The poll results in Telangana not only confirmed total decimation of TDP in the state but also does not bode well for its future in Andhra Pradesh since the party has dismally lost two significant seats in greater Hyderabad area once considered to be its bastions because of the large presence of the settlers from Seemandhra and proximity to the city’s IT hub for which N Chandrababu Naidu has repeatedly claimed credit during the acrimonious campaign.
In this election TDP has been reduced to two seats, that too in Khammam district and it lost two crucial seats of Kukatpally and Serilingampally which are near or part of Cyberabad where most of the big IT companies are situated. When Mr Naidu chose N Suhashini, grand daughter of NTR, the founder of TDP for Kukatpally it was thought to be a master stroke — uniting the Nandamuri family as well consolidating the votes of powerful Kamma community to which Mr Naidu and Suhashini belong.
For Serilingampally he chose a film producer V Ananda Prasad. Despite concentrating all his energy and campaign in these two seats, TDP lost the battle.
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Not only his candidate failed to garner Kamma votes, the Kapus, a numerically stronger caste which had supported TDP in past elections did not vote for the party in Kukatpally. According to political analyst this is an indication that Kapus are moving away from TDP and supporting Jana Sena which had not participated in Telangana elections but is coming up as a new force in AP.
Mr Naidu who often claims credit to have set up the IT industry in Hyderabad is no longer the icon of the young, software professionals that reside mostly in Kukatpally or adjoining areas. His place has been usurped by K T Rama Rao the young dynamic TRS leader who maintains a close contact with the software professionals through various social media and was in charge of his party’s campaign in Hyderabad and neighbouring areas. In fact in hindsight the alliance with TDP seem to have cost the Congress at least 10 seats because the famed TDP cadre in Telangana seem to have joined TRS along with its leaders.
“Mr Naidu will be reduced to a lame duck chief minister after this fiasco in Telangana polls. Neither the bureaucracy nor the the Opposition and even the other regional parties whom he is trying to rope in his alternative front will take him seriously,” said a former aide of Mr Naidu.
Arch rival K Chandrasekhar Rao who had repeatedly expressed his ire towards the AP chief minister for his interference in Telangana during elections said today that he will interfere in AP polls as a “return gift” to Naidu.
While congratulating K Chandrasekhar Rao for his victory in Telangana, TDP chief and AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said BJP had been weakened further all over the country after its defeat in five assembly elections. “People from all walks of life have realised that the BJP has not done anything in the last 5 years. The election results of five states will contribute in creating a strong alternative to BJP in the 2019 elections,” he said in a statement.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief today announced that he will be soon going to Delhi to step up his efforts for a “BJP-free and Congress-free India” and proposed the formation of a new national party which will be a consortium of regional political parties.
Mr Rao said there was a need for alignment of people instead of political parties and termed the various fronts at the national level as a failure. According to him the country needs a new growth model.
Speaking about the need for new economic as well as agricultural models for development, he cited his own government’s efforts in resolving farm distress as the best one.