Chandrababu Naidu's new way to connect with voters

With his choice of an Backward Caste leader to head his party’s poll campaign panel and the promise to install a BC as the first chief minister of the newly formed Telangana state, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo Nara Chandrababu Naidu may at last have found a way to connect with the voters in the region.

Buoyed by changing voter ‘perception’ in Seemandhra and the growing rift between TRS and Congress in Telangana, Naidu is preparing to play the BC card in the new state by introducing R Krishnaiah, a prominent BC leader from Telangana, as head of the campaign committee.

The TDP leader would thus confront the TRS which first announced that it would make a dalit the first chief minister of the newly formed state and a muslim as deputy chief minister, but changed its mind for its chief K Chandrasekhar Rao.

TDP leaders were angered by admission of Krishnaiah, an outsider, and trusting him with an important position. But Naidu, who has been dragging his feet on setting up his party’s Telangana unit fearing backlash in Seemandhra, has opted for the move to buy himself some more time.

Naidu has reasons to worry about the impact of setting up a T-committee, since it would land him in trouble in Seemandhra where leaders could demand a similar set up.
Having succeeded in convincing his cadre in accepting an outsider in Krishnaiah as head of the campaign committee, Naidu hopes that the Telangana leader, who is the state BC association president, would earn him precious votes.

Party sources said L Ramana will be appointed as the chairman of Telangana TDP Steering Committee and Errabelli Dayakar Rao its working president. The TDP Manifesto committee will be headed by Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy.

Roadblock in BJP-TDP talks

The former chief minister has also left the task of conducting seat sharing talks with the BJP in Telangana to his senior leaders. TDP is not prepared to give away more seats to the BJP, which claims that the TDP is weak in the new state.

The announcement of a seat sharing agreement was expected on Friday itself, but both TDP and BJP were back on the negotiation table on Saturday, in a sign of a fresh roadblock. Both parties were said to be on the verge of clinching a deal earlier.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday evening, Telangana BJP president Kishan Reddy said the outstanding issues in seat sharing would now be tackled by the party head in New Delhi, indicating all was not well.