Can Naidu Succeed With KCR Formula?

The announcement made by Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu that he would release the list of party candidates contesting the coming assembly elections in his state has triggered a big debate in the political circles.

By making such an announcement, Naidu seems to be following the formula of his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao who achieved a big success by declaring the names of as many as 106 candidates for the 119-member assembly three months ahead of the elections.

Well, KCR had that liberty as he is confident that people would for the TRS on his face value and also because of the welfare and developmental schemes implemented by his government in the last four and a half years.

Though he knew that there was anti-incumbency prevailing against some of his party MLAs, he took the risk and retained them as he was confident that Brand KCR will neutralize this anti-incumbency.

In Andhra Pradesh, the situation is different, as the opposition party – YSR Congress – is very strong and another regional party – Jana Sena – is also attracting several leaders from other parties.

If Naidu announces his candidates’ list well in advance, those aspiring for the party tickets would quickly jump into these opposition parties and could ruin the TDP chances.

Secondly, at least of half of the sitting TDP MLAs turned out to be poor performers, besides facing a lot of allegations of corruption and inaccessibility to voters. Unlike KCR, Naidu cannot dare retain them despite their caste and money power.

Naidu is apparently of the view that like in Telangana, the ruling party MLAs would have ample time in reaching out to people to seek their mandate for a second term. This will have an edge to the TDP over others.

But he seems to have forgotten the fact that the YSRC had already finalized candidates for several constituencies and they are already involved in the mass-contact programme.

However, Naidu might not take the risk of announcing all the candidates at a time. He will only release the list of candidates for the constituencies which he feels safe.

There is also another argument that by announcing the candidates well in advance, Naidu will avoid last minute ditching by disgruntled elements and he can pacify them by making various promises.