The snap polls in Telangana took centre stage in the discussions of the TDP Coordination Committee held here on Wednesday. The meeting chaired by national president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu felt that the early polls were being conducted with the sole objective of causing damage to the party.
The TDP supremo said TRS president and caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao did not respond though the TDP had given enough signals to work together. Mr. Rao, falling in the trap of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, did not agree to it. The political parties and leaders such as Mr. Rao were inching towards the BJP only to cut the TDP to size. But they were not realising the grave mistakes they were committing by doing so. They were not thinking of their development but doing politics only to oppose the TDP. Notwithstanding, the TDP was growing strong in Telangana and its cadre was intact and robust, he said.
The BJP, the TRS, the YSR Congress and the Jana Sena Party (JSP) formed a cartel against the TDP. Plans were being made to bring the non-BJP parties onto a single platform at the national level. The TDP was laying its focus on national politics but not with an eye on power. None should comment that Mr. Chandrababu Naidu would become Prime Minister, he said.
Raising the cash-for-vote issue, the Ministers expressed apprehensions that the raids by the Income Tax akin to Telangana would be conducted in Andhra Pradesh too. There were rumours that the Central government was hatching plans to target Ministers instead of the Chief Minister. Mr. KCR could not digest the alliance against the TRS. Hence, he was moving heaven and earth to unite the YSRC president and JSP president Pawan Kalyan, they felt, adding, “Any negligence would land us in trouble. We need to face all sorts of conspiracies. And with popular support we need to go to elections.”
Referring to the Maoist attack in the Araku valley, Mr. Naidu said, “The Maoists were involved in an attempt on me in Alipiri.”
