Form of words:
Hyderabad: Nearly two years after the humiliating defeat in Andhra Pradesh that stripped him of power, former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is desperate to revive his Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which is facing its biggest crisis in four decades. Existence.
Such is the desperation that Naidu has indicated the possibility of a re-alignment with the BJP to take on the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).
Naidu, who was in Delhi last week, has sought an appointment with Home Minister Amit Shah. He Allegedly He said the TDP does not have major political ideological differences with the BJP and the split from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2018 was purely for the “interest of the state”.
The TDP pulled out of the NDA alliance in 2018 just before the assembly elections in the state, on the grounds that the BJP had not fulfilled its promise of special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
Naidu’s visit to Delhi last week comes in the backdrop of attacks on TDP offices, properties were vandalized, allegedly by leaders of the ruling YSRCP party. The former chief minister had also met President Ram Nath Kovind, and President’s rule was demanded in Andhra Pradesh.
But their situation has become such that the visit of the former Andhra Pradesh CM to Delhi has hardly created any wave.
Naidu, once one of the country’s most influential politicians, a king-maker who was instrumental in picking up presidential candidates like APJ Abdul Kalam and KR Narayanan, is now struggling to find a place in the capital.
Senior Political Analyst Prof. “Naidu’s glamor is invisible in Delhi,” Nageshwar said, pointing to last week’s gloomy Delhi visit.
“When Mamata Banerjee went to Delhi after the elections, all the top leaders met her. Even though Naidu is senior to him, the same effect could not be seen. After all, what matters in the streets of Delhi is the numbers. If you have numbers then you have respect, otherwise you are not.”
But, Naidu’s position in the state is no better.
Party insiders say that there are a lot of challenges within the party that need to be addressed before it even thinks of improving ties with the BJP.
a party in trouble
The TDP is battling with a scattered cadre, top faces have gone silent, internal issues between leaders and Naidu himself, who is the party chief at the age of 71.
Party leaders admit that their troubles began with a humiliating defeat in the 2019 assembly elections, when the TDP got just 23 seats. The YSRCP, led by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, won 151 out of 175 assembly seats.
“It took us almost 100 days to digest what happened – the number of numbers we won. The cadre was obviously very demotivated. I think that is what took the party chief to come to terms with it,” said Naidu’s son and former minister Nara Lokesh told ThePrint that the lack of presence on the ground was one of the biggest reasons for the party. The collapse came at a time when Jagan, the then opposition leader, had walked 3,600 km. hiking across the state.
“The disappointment was so high as no cadre expected us to lose, forget scoring such low numbers. It was expected that TDP would definitely form the government,” TDP’s Ashok Babu, member of the Legislative Council, told ThePrint.
Since the 2019 elections, the TDP’s trajectory has only shifted downwards. The party has faced several defeats in the local body elections and even in the Tirupati by-elections.
In fact, the party did not contest the by-poll in Badvel constituency last month. Referring to the decades-old tradition Not to field a candidate when a member of the family of the deceased is contesting from the opposite side.
The move, however, triggered discussions that TDP’s withdrawal from the election was linked to the support of the BJP, which had fielded a candidate against the YSRCP.
But in its efforts to strike a chord with the BJP, the TDP faces another hurdle – the Jana Sena Party (JSP), led by actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan, already in alliance with the BJP. Is.
A senior TDP leader, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint that at the ground level, TDP and JSP cadres are secretly working together to counter the YSRCP.
“The grassroot level workers of TDP and JSP are already working together. And if this magnitude grows and reaches the top level, then the top leaders will have no option but to take decisions in line with the preferences of the grassroots cadre,” he said.
Jana Sena’s political secretary P. Hariprasad, however, denied these claims. “There is no such thing of a cadre working together. It is just wishful thinking,” he said.
Another JSP leader told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity that some grassroot workers from both the parties may be working together as they belong to the same caste.
Read also: Will work with Prashant Kishor, he promised to help me, says Jagan’s sister YS Sharmila
looking inside
TDP is taking steps to bounce back. Soon after the 2019 elections, the party chief hired a strategist, who had previously been associated with Prashant Kishor’s team. The team along with Kishor had assisted YS Jagan in the 2019 elections.
Insiders say the party still has a lot of ‘course correction’ to do.
One of the first challenges the party is focusing on is to attract cadres who have moved away and leaders who are away from the limelight.
“In 2019, Naidu mostly focused on development and could not devote much time to the party. It took us a year and a half to understand and rework the strategy of YSRCP. But now, the party has started restructuring from the grassroots level to the mandal level, and inducting only active people into the board,” TDP leader and MLC Deepak Reddy told ThePrint.
“Even the MLA candidates who contested and lost, and remained absent after the defeat, have been given an ultimatum that if they do not become active, they will be replaced.”
Several party leaders, including Reddy, have alleged that the TDP stalwart has gone silent fearing that the ruling government will impose “false cases” on them, which they claim has happened to some of their other leaders as well.
Another important issue the party is grappling with is the internal conflict of ideologies between its ‘younger’ and ‘older’ generations.
“There is a serious issue among the leaders. For example, in 2019, at least 30 candidates from the younger generation contested and most of them were children or siblings of senior leaders. Now there are senior leaders in the same constituency and there is a power struggle,” a party leader told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
“Even at the district and mandal level, the party ensured that the youth are at the fore, but in the same districts, there will be a senior leader who will not agree with the views of the younger generation and this is creating a lot of issues.”
“There is also no clarity on who does what. The party has 25 general secretary and 100 organizational secretary posts, but we don’t know what role they should play. The hierarchy is messed up,” the leader said.
Former TDP MLA JC Prabhakar Reddy last month attacked Leaders of his own party, especially in his stronghold Anantapur district, accused him of not taking care of the party cadre, which, he said, was causing a discontent. Reddy also called upon Naidu to start taking care of the cadre seriously.
“TDP is facing problems of internal strife as they are out of power. If there is faith in the leadership and it is hoped that it will come to power, the dissident factions will be submissive. But the TDP is not going strong considering the recent elections,” said senior political analyst Prof Nageswara Rao.
“The TDP leadership is unable to give confidence to its workers. There is also uncertainty about its future within the party as Naidu will be too old to lead in the years to come.
Analysts say Naidu’s age a matter of concern, son Lokesh not ready yet
Analysts say the anti-incumbency wave against Jagan in urban areas and youth could benefit the TDP in the long run, provided it is able to revive itself and capitalize on the situation.
He said the future of the party was a matter of concern in 2024, when Naidu would turn 73 and the situation could worsen if his successor Nara Lokesh was not ready to take the party forward.
“In 2014 people felt that Jagan was too young and he would not be able to handle a new state AP and hence they chose the seasoned veteran Naidu. Now, that same age factor may turn out to be a minus factor for them,” Purushottam Reddy, senior political analyst, told ThePrint.
“People may think why should he be given a chance at this age and instead give priority to young Jagan. The problem for TDP will be that it has to bring Lokesh to the forefront. He will be compared with Jagan as he belongs to the same generation.
“But the question is, is Lokesh ready to take over? This does not appear to be the case in its current state; So, they need to rework themselves and give that confidence to people as they don’t have that right now,” Reddy said.
Lokesh has not had any successful political journey. Even the party is not presenting him well – even if there is a dire situation, we see Naidu at the forefront.”
when ThePrint spoken before Regarding Nara Lokesh taking over the reins of the party, he had said that it was still “too soon” and the party was working to help Naidu. Lokesh was a minister under his father’s rule and contested for the first time in 2019 but lost.
(Edited by Arun Prashant)
Read also: This is how Jagan Reddy has become a political juggler in Andhra
subscribe our channel youtube And Wire
Why is the news media in crisis and how can you fix it?
India needs independent, unbiased, non-hyphenated and questionable journalism even more as it is facing many crises.
But the news media itself is in trouble. There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism are shrinking, yielding to raw prime-time spectacle.
ThePrint has the best young journalists, columnists and editors to work for it. Smart and thinking people like you will have to pay a price to maintain this quality of journalism. Whether you live in India or abroad, you can Here.