“Non Stop” Naidu takes entire campaign on his shoulders

The IT savvy, a 68-year old leader from Naravaripalle of Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh is on a mission. As the first chief minister of separate Andhra Pradesh, Nara Chandrababu Naidu has unfinished business at his hands and he tells his voters to give his party a chance to complete the work. Surrounded by unprecedented allegations from the main opposition YSRCP and with no other leader in the party to effectively reach the people in the crisis-ridden campaign, the senior most politician is on a do or die mission in this elections.

After the humiliating defeat in the December 2018 Assembly elections in Telangana for the first time since its inception in 1982, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has not fielded any candidate for the Lok Sabha elections in the sibling state. Naidu is also going alone in the AP elections.

Beleaguered Naidu

In the run-up to the elections, the state has witnessed a spurt in violence. Naidu was made to take a defensive stand with the opposition YSRCP effectively portraying him as a fading star trying to protect his kingdom. The attack on Jagan in the Vizag airport, the data theft scam, murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy were the few issues that made Naidu take time off from his campaign and address.

With no support from the indifferent centre that has left the state high and dry Naidu is finding it hard to complete the poll time promises of completion of capital city Amaravati and Polavaram project.

Naidu Fights back

True to his style, Naidu has taken the entire TDP campaign on his stride even his son and state IT minister Nara Lokesh sharing the burden. Naidu starts his day by addressing cadre through teleconferencing and embarks on road shows that generally end with two to three public meetings. Naidu has so far taken no break from the campaign despite the severe summer prevailing in the state.

In every single meeting, Naidu makes a point to raise regional sentiment by bringing the alleged nexus between Modi-KCR-Jagan to the fore. “I am not permanent. But the state is. So think about the future of your children and keep criminals like YS Jaganmohan Reddy who had 31 cases against him and who is ready to mortgage the interests of AP to K Chandrasekhar Rao, away from power,” Naidu says.