(AK Reddy)
Hyderabad: AP CM Chandrababu Naidu has all the trappings of a seasoned and mature politician. Are there any instances where his rivals have finger-pointed flaws in his strategies?
For once, CBN knows by his 2004 experience that advancing elections is no guarantee for victory after all. Unlike in the past and post bifurcation, CBN has to safeguard his party’s interests in “two states” now. And bifurcation has brought in a vast and overwhelming change in the political landscape of residual Andhra Pradesh.
* By waiting to see the actual results of General elections and the AP assembly polls, Naidu will get clarity on whether o stay put in the state politics or take centre-stage in Delhi.
* Unlike KCR, CBN doesn’t seem to have a clear successor in his son and state IT minister Nara Lokesh. According to reports, Loesh has not been successful in instilling confidence in CBN, about his ability to run the state party unit.
* More than anybody else, Naidu knows that Congress is unpredictable. While T Congress leaders openly speak of a future truck with Telangana TDP, APCC leaders cannot do so for obvious reasons. And it is no mean task for Naidu to mend fences with TDP’s “single most enemy“ of four decades, Congress and reap electoral benefits from any formal alliance. While Naidu can go easy with any kind of electoral result in Telangana, the same is not the case with AP.
* In 2014, Naidu has had only one political rival in YSRCP and solid alliance with the BJP and Pawan Kalyan. But in 2019, he has the BJP and Jana Sena to contend with, apart from the traditional rival Congress.
* Many TDP leaders including Naidu, have a strong suspicion that the central BJP leadership is out to defeat Naidu in 209 Assembly elections “at any cost”. In the recent past, one TDP MP(JC Diwakar Reddy) has even alleged that the BJP is willing to channelize Rs.1500 crore to Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSRCP.
* BJP’s antagonism towards Naidu seems to drive him towards the other national party. But cosying up with Congress, which was the TDP’s life-time political bête noire until state bifurcation, is not going to be easy for him. Going by what AP Congress leaders have been saying, there might not be any truck whatsoever with the TDP in Andhra.