Facing a do-or-die battle, the Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is going all out to return to power in the state in the next assembly elections.
He has a battery of people working for him – some directly and some from behind the screen. This network of people has spread across different parties and even the business sector.
While people like Sujana Chowdary and C. M. Ramesh, who defected to the BJP soon after the last assembly elections, are working covertly for Naidu, rebel YSR Congress party MP K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju is openly campaigning for the TDP supremo.
At the same time, Naidu has the backing of powerful media houses like Eenadu, Andhra Jyothy, TV5, etc., apart from big business houses and a battery of legal experts who are coming to his rescue at crucial junctures.
On the other hand, Jagan has become a virtual loner in the party. Though for the record's sake, he has senior leaders of the party on his side, they are not coming to his support when he needed them most.
While YSRC general secretary and Rajya Sabha member V. Vijay Sai Reddy have stopped evincing interest in the party activities, so-called seniors like Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and Y. V. Subba Reddy have become silent spectators with no strategic planning.
Besides, other seniors like Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, Balineni Srinivas Reddy, Botsa Satyanarayana, and Dharmana Prasada Rao are busy encouraging groupism within the party and fighting the rival groups.
Regarding the Information and Public Relations department, which is supposed to build the image of Jagan among the people, the less said, the better. It has been making more enemies than friends.
Even on the legal front, Jagan has no significant support. Senior advocate S. Niranjan Reddy, whom Jagan had strongly believed in and made a Rajya Sabha member, has not been of much use to Jagan legally.
The party leaders are only making individual attacks on the TDP leaders but not making any attempts to politically target the opposition party. Even Sai Reddy has become silent on Twitter in attacking Naidu.
“When Jagan was in the opposition, he had no supporters. Even now, four years after coming to power, he is still waging a lone battle, and the people surrounding him have left him to his fate,” an analyst pointed out.
