Telugu Desam Party upbeat, confident of repeat in Assembly polls

Hyderabad: The Telugu Desam, which has been in the opposition for the last 10 years, emerged with flying colours in the elections to urban local bodies in Seemandhra, pushing its arch-rival YSR Congress to a distant second position.

For the TD, which had received a drubbing at the hands of the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy-led Congress in the 2005 municipal and corporation polls, this victory must taste particularly sweet.

The TD has turned in a stupendous performance, trouncing the YSRC in a majority of towns and cities in 13 Seemandhra districts. It got a majority in 62 municipalities and five municipal corporations. The YSRC won 19 municipalities and two corporations.

It was a different story in the Telangana region. The Telugu Desam’s performance here was insignificant compared to the victories posted by the Congress followed by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.

The TD leaders and cadres celebrated across the Seemandhra region on Monday when the results of the urban bodies polls were declared. The party won in East and West Godavari districts, in Guntur, Anantapur and, most important, in Kadapa district, considered the bastion of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu said the people have re-affirmed their confidence in the TD, which has always been wedded to welfare and development. He slammed the YSRC and the Congress for neglecting these issues and indulging in massive corruption.

He said the Congress had played the Telangana card, claiming to have granted the separate state, and this led to the poor performance by the TD in Telangana.
Mr Naidu did not claim that the party’s performance in the urban bodies polls would extend to the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, results of which will be out on May 16, but many TD leaders have issued statements expressing confidence that the TD will do even better in the state and parliamentary polls.

According to party MPs and close associates of Mr Naidu Sujana Chowdary, C.M. Ramesh, Garikapati Rammohan Rao and Kambhampati Rammohan Rao, the TD had more advantages going into the May 7 Assembly and LS polls than it had in the March 30 urban bodies polls.

The advantages that accrued later were the tie-up with the BJP, the impact of Narendra Modi’s public meetings, film star Pawan Kalyan joining the TD campaign, the promise to waive farm loans, and the promise to make a Kapu and a BC Deputy Chief Ministers.