Parishad polls boycott: TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu faces dissent within party

Dissent is brewing in the Opposition TDP over party chief Chandrababu Naidu's decision to boycott the Zilla and Mandal Parishad polls scheduled on April 8.

While senior leaders expressed their disagreement publicly, in many places the local leaders and candidates are said to be keen to remain in the fray.

On Friday, Naidu announced that the TDP would keep away from the Parishad polls, stating that they have lost faith in the poll process. Naidu, who is demanding a fresh election notification, has accused the new State Election Commissioner Nilam Sawhney of becoming a rubber stamp in the hands of the Jaganmohan Reddy government.

Soon after Naidu's “drastic decision,” former union minister and TDP politburo member Ashok Gajapathi Raju opined that the leadership “should have engaged in wider consultations with the party cadre before taking the call.”

Vizianagaram district TDP leaders, including Raju's daughter Aditi Gajapathi Raju, reportedly said the party candidates would contest anyway.

In East Godavari district, party Vice President Jyothula Nehru resigned from the post. “I am strongly in favour of contesting the polls. Such a boycott would weaken the party on the ground,” Nehru, a former MLA said while adding that he would however remain in the party.

Though the TDP politburo had left the decision to Naidu, some of the senior leaders like former Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu are supposedly against the idea of shunning the polls altogether.

The TDP, Janasena and other parties are demanding a fresh notification for the local body polls, alleging that the ruling YSRCP had resorted to violence and widespread intimidation disallowing other party candidates from filing nominations in March last year.

The TDP complained to the SEC that an unusually high number of seats was thus marked as unanimously elected. The Janasena had moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking a fresh notification.

Nevertheless, Sawhney issued the poll schedule late Thursday, the day she took charge as the SEC.

On Saturday, the state election commission filed a counter affidavit in the case in the high court, stating that the poll process was resumed as per the rules.

The notification for the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies polls was issued in March last year and nominations were also filed. However, the polls could not be held at that time due to Covid-19.

Barring the seats unanimously elected, polls are scheduled on April 8 for about 7,800 MPTC and ZPTC seats across the state.