Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday took stock of the state of affairs of the Telangana unit of the party, as the state prepares to go to the polls on December 7. Naidu arrived at the party's headquarters, NTR Bhavan, in Hyderabad and met with Telangana TDP president L Ramana, before he met with the Politburo of the party.
The CM also met with the TDP's Central Committee and several senior leaders, including state vice-presidents, general secretaries, district presidents and official spokespersons, among others.
Speaking to reporters after the meet, TDP leader Ravula Chandrashekar said, “We spoke about the large cadre we have on the ground in Telangana and also highlighted to the TDP chief about the unfair attacks being launched by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). They are behaving like no one should oppose them, like the BJP government in Delhi.”
He added, “Many people who wished for a ticket came to see the TDP chief today and we also discussed what should go in our manifesto. We have identified around 60 leaders; the cream of the crop, to take some major decisions on our party's behalf.”
Asked about the ‘Mahakutami’ or grand alliance being forged by the TDP along with the CPI, Congress and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), Ravula said, “We have informed Naidu of the latest developments with regard to the alliance. He asked us to work for the people, with their interests in mind. He also said that it was the Mahakutami's victory that was most important.”
Regarding the speculation that the TJS and CPI were upset at the number of seats being offered to them, the TDP leader said, “An alliance is difficult and it is not possible to accommodate everyone as four parties are working together. Those who get a ticket must work hard and those who don’t, should continue working for the party and wait for their next opportunity.”
The TDP leader also said that three main aspects were being considered - how many seats per party, what seats for each party and who were the candidates.
Ravula said that Naidu approved of the direction in which discussions were headed.
Asking the people to vote out the ruling TRS, Ravula said, “We hope that people take the right decision and remember that we have done a lot of work for the people. We consider every TDP member like our family, unlike the TRS, which only considers people with the Kalvakuntla surname as a family. I hope people can see the contrast.”
He alleged, “TRS is also intimidating and threatening our karyakartas on the ground. We are planning to take that up with the Election Commission and submit a representation when they hold a meeting with us.”
Caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao dissolved the Telangana Assembly on September 6 and expressed his wish to go for early polls in the state. The Election Commission has said that the voting will take place on December 7 and results will be announced on December 11.