Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday announced the party’s decision to abstain from Presidential elections as it had been fighting against anti-people policies of the Congress and the communal BJP.
In a statement, he said the decision was taken after a long discussion with the senior leaders and studying all options. Having opposed the policies of Congress, the party cannot afford to support UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee. Similarly, the party felt it was not proper to support P.A. Sangma, the NDA candidate, led by a “communal party” like BJP.
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TRS too seemed inclined to stay away from the elections in protest against the UPA candidate who “adopted delaying tactics in formation of Telangana”.
Mr. Naidu’s announcement came a few hours after party MP Ramesh Rathod indicated that the party may skip the elections. Mr. Rathod sought to link it with the Telangana issue. Responding to a query from media persons at Raj Bhavan where he had gone to meet Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, he said the party’s decision was to protest the Centre’s intransigence in resolving the issue of Telangana. Mr. Rathod’s comments took the party by surprise as it was planning to make it official only on Wednesday, a day before the elections. His attempt to openly link it to Telangana was also not liked by the leadership though it was under pressure from Telangana Telugu Desam Forum to abstain because Mr. Mukherjee was always opposed to the formation of Telangana.