2009 polls: Chandrababu Naidu predicted 200+ for his team, got 107

Hyderabad: Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu had said on April 23, 2009, that the Mahakutami would sweep the Assembly elections in the state and predicted that a Third Front government would be formed at the Centre. Mr Naidu had also asserted that he was not in the race to be a Prime Minister.

“If my calculations are correct, the Mahakutami will bag 200-plus Assembly and 30-plus Lok Sabha seats. There is an undercurrent against the Congress government in the state. A large number of women, youth, intellectuals, poor and other sections voted for the Mahakutami in the second phase,” Mr Naidu had said.

“We will celebrate Diwali on May 16 (2009) on the victory of good over the evil Rajasekhar Reddy government,” he added. Mr Naidu said people were fed up of the “demonic” rule of Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. Describing Dr Rajasekhar Reddy as a dangerous leader, he said he had let loose the Congress goondas all over the state and distributed money and liquor in Kuppam constituency.

“Dr Rajasekhar Reddy would stoop to any level to achieve his goal, but people have rejected him. He terrorised people in Pulivendla and did not allow TD agents in some places. Are we in a democracy?” he had asked. Dr Reddy has tried every trick to woo voters including whipping up regional passions, but it did not click, he said.

He also tried to buy MLAs, MPs. When a reporter pointed to AIADMK president J Jayalalithaa’s support for Sharad Pawar as PM candidate, he said PM candidate was always elected with consensus and it was not appropriate to name the candidate. “The normal practice is the parties will meet after polls and select PM candidate with consensus. Some may prefer a particular person, others may not,” he said. When told that even Mr K Chandrasekhar Rao preferred Sharad Pawar, he parried the question saying they would goby consensus.