It’s a remarkable comeback for Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, after facing some sort of existential crisis five years ago.
The TDP-led National Democratic Alliance comprising two other partners – Jana Sena Party led by power star Pawan Kalyan and the Bharatiya Janata Party is heading towards a near three-fourths majority in this year’s assembly elections.
And the credit should go mostly to Naidu, who had fought back with a lot of courage, resilience and determination, braving all the odds in the last five years.
At the age of 74 years, he toured every nook and corner of the state, reached out to every section of the society and convinced the people to vote for his party to rebuild the state that, he alleged, had been destroyed during the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime.
A year ago, nobody would have expected that the TDP under Naidu’s leadership would post such a resounding victory in the assembly elections.
His party lost 90 percent of the rural and urban local body elections and the YSRCP was emerged as an invincible party.
Added to this, Jagan’s welfare schemes made a massive impact on the people, as they were able to get money promptly into their accounts without any middlemen.
The village and ward volunteers’ network established a strong bonding between the YSRCP and the people.
Yet, Naidu did not lose his heart and determination and put up a tremendous fight against the Jagan government.
After facing humiliation in the state assembly following the debacle in Kuppam local body elections, he vowed to enter the assembly again only in the capacity of the chief minister.
In a way, the kind of vengeance Jagan had displayed towards Naidu was also responsible for the latter’s resurgence in the last one and a half years.
A series of cases filed against Naidu, the restrictions imposed by the government at his meetings and ultimately, the way he was arrested in the skill development case fetched the TDP chief a lot of sympathy.
And Jagan and his party leaders have also underestimated Naidu’s political manipulative skills.
A shrewd politician that he is, the TDP chief realised that without the support of the BJP, it is very difficult for him to conquer the YSRCP, because the entire police and administrative machinery had been under the control of the Jagan government.
So, he made all out efforts in a tactful manner to get back into the NDA fold. Added to this, Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan joined hands with him in order to prevent the split of anti-incumbency votes.
Both Naidu and Pawan moved their pawns very shrewdly to consolidate the Kamma-Kapu vote bank and that led to the complete rout of the YSRCP in the Godavari districts and major part of north-coastal Andhra.
In the selection of candidates and controlling the dissidence, too, Naidu used all his experience and ensured that he picked up the winning horses. That is Naidu!
