It was a strange dichotomy within the same party over criticising their rivals.
Every leader who spoke at Telangana TDP’s Mahanadu here on Thursday targeted Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao, picked holes in all of his policies and criticised his ‘family rule’. In quite contrast, TDP national president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu didn’t even take the name of KCR or the latter’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi party in his more than an-hour-long speech.
Mr. Naidu, however, didn’t spare Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister. Interestingly, none of other TDP leaders — including TDP Telangana president L. Ramana — preferred to refer to the BJP though they said TDP was surging and was likely to regain its glory in Telangana.
While speaking about Telangana, Mr. Naidu confined himself to saying that TDP’s influence on Hyderabad was profound for various reasons. “We created an eco-system in Hyderabad and ensured its development,” he said. He exhorted party workers to become a ‘Kondaveeti Simham’ and Bobbili Puli’ (both NTR films) to make TDP victorious in 2019elections. But he didn’t utter a single word about TRS or KCR.
Even as the party workers raised slogans like “Babu Prime Minister”, he said smiling that he was not interested in that post. “I would not get tempted even if you shout louder saying I shall become PM,” he made it clearer to them.
