Hyderabad: The Assembly elections have become fight between the Chief Ministers of the two Telugu states rather than the TRS and the Congress-led People’s Front.
In the initial days, the TRS targeted the Congress but gradually turned the focus on Telugu Desam president and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
In 2014, too, the main fight was between TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Mr Naidu. Both were winners in that contest — state bifurcation helped Mr Naidu in AP and achievement of statehood helped Mr Rao in Telangana.
Telangana sentiment was not on the agenda for this election but the TRS brought it back to the table after Mr Naidu began taking an active role in the campaign.
Mr Naidu had earlier planned to campaign only for two days but decided to canvas till the last day after seeing the response.
He has become the central point of the People’s Front campaign, and the target of TRS ire. Almost all TRS leaders on the campaign have criticised Mr Naidu in their speeches and generally ignored the Congress. Political circles feel that the campaign would have been dull but for Mr Naidu.
TRS leaders allege that Mr Naidu wants to rule Telangana in backdoor methods. If the People’s Front is elected, the TS government’s remote control will be in Amaravati, they claim.
TRS leaders seized on a statement by Karnataka minister D.K. Shivakumar, who was in the city to campaign, to buttress their point. Mr Shivakumar had said that after the People’s Front gets majority, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Mr Naidu would decide on the Chief Ministerial candidate. This proved, they said, that Mr Naidu would hold the reins.
Reacting to TRS allegationsm Mr Naidu said, “I cannot contest in Telangana. I don’t have a vote here, how can I rule Telangana? I am interested in the development of the Telugu states.”
