While the outcome of the by-elections in the seven Assembly constituencies in the State is creating tremors within the ruling Congress party, the main Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) too is in a fix over the same.
TDP insiders say that the party president Mr N Chandrababu Naidu, who had worked out a grand plan to win at least one or two seats in the Telangana region to show that the TDP has some vote bank and it could not be wiped out from the scene, was feeling totally shattered with the defeat of all the six candidates of the party and three of them losing deposits, at Mahbubnagar, Nagarkurnool and Kamareddy. As part of his game plan, Mr Naidu, who had all along been saying that he was not against separate Telangana State, has changed his tune to some extent and campaigned that the TDP would not come in the way of Telangana state, if the Centre decided on it; but the people have not believed his statements. It was with a determination to prove the existence of the TDP in the region that Mr Naidu had made some capitalists from the Andhra region to pump huge amounts in the six constituencies that went to polls in Telangana, it is said.
MOTHKUPALLY OUTBURSTS BOOMERANG
It is said that Mr Chandrababu Naidu had assured Mr Mothkupalli Narsimhulu, TDP senior leader from Telangana region, that he would be adequately rewarded once the party comes to power after 2014 elections, or earlier, if the latter was able to use all his capabilities and tricks to strengthen the party in Telangana region and win some seats. As Mr Mothkupally hails from Scheduled Castes, Mr Naidu felt that he would be able to enlist the support of the SCs of the region, so that the party could win some seats, which would help in coming to power. It is learnt that Mr Naidu had promised Deputy Chief Minister post to Mr Mothkupally, in the event of TDP coming to power in the State.
It was because of this tacit understanding that Mr Mothkupally had resorted to high voltage campaigning against the TRS president, Mr K Chandrasekhara Rao, in an attempt to make him unpopular among the people of the region, and to gain some seats to the TDP. All his tantrums, however, failed to cut the ice, as the people were not ready to approve his strident tirade against the TRS and Mr KCR, attacking KCR’s personality by dubbing him as drunkard, lafanga and so on. As a matter of fact, some of the TDP leaders of Telangana region felt that Mr Mothkupally has crossed all limits of decency and indulged in personal attacks on Mr KCR, which was undesirable and uncalled-for. These leaders are of the view that by his personal attacks and challenges to Mr KCR, Mr Mothkupally had actually created a sort of aversion towards the TDP in the region, instead of wooing the voters. Mr Mothkupally went to the extent of asserting that the TRS would vanish after the by-polls; but in reality, the TDP was wiped out in the region, they point out. .
With the TDP losing all the six seats in Telangana, as also the Kovur seat to YSRC candidate Mr N Prasanna Kumar Reddy, there is gloom within TDP, as the TRS in Telangana and the YSRC in the other region might become stumbling blocks for the TDP in the next general elections, and the party might not get a chance to form the government. Mr Chandrababu Naidu is almost crest-fallen now, as there are enough indications of some of its leaders and cadres bidding good-bye to the party in the days to come, to join YSRC and the TRS. (NSS)