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Andhra civic polls: YSRCP makes inroads into TDP bastion
Andhra Pradesh civic polls: The TDP managed to win just six wards, according to the results declared on Wednesday.
Hyderabad
In a major blow to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) on Wednesday successfully made inroads into former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s bastion at Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, in the municipal elections.
Of the total 25 wards in Kuppam municipality, the YSRCP won one ward unanimously and another 18 during the polls which took place on Monday.
The TDP managed to win just six wards, according to the results declared on Wednesday.
Taking a dig at Naidu over his party’s poll performance, state minister for panchayat raj and senior YSRCP leader Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy said it would be better if the former chief minister stepped down as TDP chief.
“It is now evident that Naidu cannot win from Kuppam in the next assembly elections. He is welcome to come to my constituency, Punganur, and prove his worth by defeating me. This is my challenge. Otherwise, he should quit politics and take a rest in Hyderabad,” Reddy said.
The principal opposition party in the state, however, accused YSRCP of manipulating the electoral process and winning the Kuppam municipality through misuse of official machinery and abuse of police forces.
“If people have voted for the YSRCP out of their love for chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, party leaders should explain why TDP leaders were arrested and prevented from campaigning. Why were TDP leaders arrested while YSRCP leaders freely entered the polling booths? Why did the YSRCP bring impersonators from other districts and rig the polling process? Why did the party spend hundreds of crores in just one municipality?” TDP politburo member and lawmaker Nimmala Ramanaidu said.
Kuppam was a stronghold of the TDP since 1989 and was represented by Naidu for the last seven terms. Ever since the YSRCP came to power in the state in May 2019, the party has been focusing on Kuppam with a view to end Naidu’s political career.
In the gram panchayat elections held in February this year, the YSRCP had won 75 out of 89 gram panchayats in Kuppam while the TDP had won only 14.
In the subsequent local body elections in April, the TDP managed to secure only three out of 65 mandal parishad (block parishad) territorial constituencies (MPTCs). It also lost all four zilla parishad territorial constituencies (ZPTCs) in Kuppam.
The YSRCP’s comprehensive victory in the latest polls has come as a major jolt to TDP cadres in general, and Naidu in particular.
“The development in Kuppam is an important psychological result which will hit the morale of the TDP, whose strength is already dwindling, public support waning and optics of a potential resurgence is deteriorating,” political analyst and senior journalist Sriram Karri said.
Karri also pointed out that the beginning of the TDP’s downfall had begun with its defeat in the 2019 assembly elections and the strategic mistake of leaving the National Democratic Alliance.
“The TD has time till next elections to recoup but a superficial reading and anecdotal analysis points to no silver lining for the yellow party,” he observed.
