In light of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s continued prison term and the sunken morale of the cadre, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will not contest the Telangana elections in November. The Quint has exclusive information about the party national general secretary Nara Lokesh’s confirmation of this decision to his party men late last evening. “Ring-fencing Andhra Pradesh is now our utmost priority. We are fighting several issues on the ground as well as legally. So, when we are in battle mode, we do not want to stretch ourselves too thin,” senior leader Pattabhi spoke to TQ from Vijayawada.
This move could also create more room for TDP’s ally Jana Sena Party (JSP) to corner a larger number of votes from the Kamma and Kapu communities - the traditional vote bank of the Telugu Desam party. In August, the Telugu Desam party had declared its intent to go alone in the Telangana state elections stating that it would contest 89 seats.
However, after Chandrababu Naidu’s arrest in September and his subsequent jailing, the party’s leaders have regrouped several times to strategise how they can encash the swelling sympathy electorally.