Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president, N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said the party’s good showing in Panchayat elections across three regions of the State showed that people have understood its stand.
Responding to a question on Telangana issue at a press conference, Mr. Naidu said people knew TDP stood for welfare of Telugus irrespective of the regions. The verdict given by people in Panchayat elections shows that other parties’ criticism against TDP and its stand was unwarranted. It cannot be brushed aside as 83 per cent of the people have participated in the polling.
To another question, he attributed the party’s success in Panchayat elections to all- round failure of the Government and good work by party cadre. “People are vexed with non- governance and they reposed faith in us. We have gone to elections appealing to people to vote for a good leadership at grassroots level and they have responded”. He was confident of maintaining the tempo till the next general elections, “when we will come back to power”.
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There was this argument that the divided Opposition would benefit the Congress but this did not happen with TDP making impressive gains while YSRC and TRS struggled for third and fourth places, he asserted. The victory was noteworthy as TDP was neither in power nor had resources. The Government managed to manipulate in cooperative elections but now it could not do anything owing to response from people.
A reporter sought his reaction to the CNN-IBN and The Hindu Poll Tracker 2013 that showed his party to be losing even while he claimed success in Panchayat elections. “Survey is a perception and election a reality. While as many as 1.4 crore voters exercised their franchise in the Panchayat elections, the survey’s sample was a mere 1600. Should we believe surveys or the elections that reposed confidence in us?”.