The leading media groups, which have been the main source of support for the Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu for all these years, appear to have given up on him.
Instead, they are now projecting the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy as the real hero of united Andhra Pradesh cause.
The extensive media coverage being given to Chief Minister's political moves in the newspapers and television channels bears testimony to this. These media organisations have been traditional supporters of Naidu and his party.
The change of loyalty is more visible ever since the Chief Minister made a forceful presentation before the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Telangana and highlighted the dangers of bifurcation in all key sectors.
There is a growing realization among the supporters of TDP that the party has lost the plot on Telangana and has been making a series of blunders in its bid to outsmart the ruling Congress.
The political observers are convinced that Naidu, who was once seen as an astute political strategist, is becoming irrelevant both in Telangana and Seemandhra regions.
All his moves to outsmart the Congress have backfired. His latest slogan of "equal justice to all regions" has failed to impress anyone.
The former Chief Minister is unable to convince the people about his strategy.
Despite giving consent letters to the Centre, pledging his party's support to formation of Telangana state, he has been unable to capitalize on it and earn the goodwill of the people of Telangana region.
Since the Congress Working Committee's July 30 announcement on bifurcation of the state, he has not addressed a single public meeting in Telangana while his rallies in Seemandhra have failed to cut much ice with the angry people of the region.
Naidu's "two-eyed policy" and "choosing between two sons" argument have fallen flat. Nobody has been able to decode what exactly Naidu wants and what in his view amounts to equal justice.
Instead of talking about specific issues, the TDP supremo has been harping on his oft-repeated charge of match-fixing between Congress and YSR Congress Party chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and highlighting how the Congress has decided to divide the state only to finish him off politically.
It is amusing how Naidu can change his public stance so many times with such an ease. He seems to have conveniently forgotten about the two consent letters he had given to the Centre in 2008 and again in 2013.
Was he not aware of the consequences of the division then? Just like how CWC is the highest policy making body of the Congress, the Politburo is the highest policy making body of the TDP. And, TDP's politburo had decided in favour of Telangana as far back as 2008 while the CWC took the same decision in July, 2013.
The TDP had included the Telangana promise in its 2009 manifesto in which it assured that, if voted to power, the party would initiate all the necessary "legal and constitutional measures" to carve out Telangana state.
What measures and strategies did he have in mind then? Five years later, Naidu is now saying that splitting the state would be disastrous and that the concerns and grievances of Seemandhra people should be taken into consideration. Was he ignorant about the political fallout then? Moreover, the TDP had even passed a pro-Telangana resolution at Mahanadu, the general body meeting of the party.
