Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s attempt to contest the December 2018 assembly elections in Telangana in alliance with the Congeress turned out to be a blessing in disguise for ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao successfully exploited the Telangana sentiment to the hilt by accusing an Andhra leader like Naidu of once again conspiring to capture Telangana. Naidu’s campaign did more harm than good to the Congress, as Telangana voters did not accept him.
Now in the ongoing Huzurabad by-election, too, the TRS is trying to exploit the same anti-Andhra sentiment among the people. Apparently realising that it is difficult to defeat BJP candidate Eatala Rajender in the by-poll, the TRS took out this weapon at the last moment.
It got a story planted in the social media saying that Naidu was funding Rajender’s campaign indirectly through Pradesh Congress Committee chief A Revanth Reddy, who happened to be a trusted lieutenant of Naidu in the past and still maintains the loyalty to the TDP.
According to the story that surfaced in the social media, Rajender had met Naidu secretly at around midnight on September 9 at the latter’s residence in Vundavalli in Amaravati. The meeting was also attended by Revanth Reddy.
It says all the three have discussed methods to defeat the TRS in the Huzurabad by-elections and subsequently to weaken the TRS government in the subsequent days.
The TDP chief reportedly directed Revanth Reddy to extend “all help” to Rajender in the by-elections. Apparently, Rajender told Naidu that if he wins the Huzurabad seat, at least 30 TRS MLAs would quit the party and support him.
Rajender returned to Hyderabad the same night and the following evening, he and Revanth had yet another secret meeting at Golconda Resorts. A huge extent of money reportedly changed hands during the meeting. The TDP chief reportedly promised to extend financial assistance to all those who would jump the fence from the TRS.
The TRS leaders are planning to make this story viral in the social media, so as to tell the voters in Huzurabad there is once again a large scale conspiracy by the Andhra leaders to capture Telangana. That way, the TRS can gain political advantage in the by-elections.
