The Hindu : Naidu plays it cool

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 14, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Naidu plays it cool

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI. Feb. 13. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo and Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, has sought to sweep under the carpet Vedurukuppam fiasco where the party has lost the ZPTC seat in the by-election held recently by a margin of over 7,000 votes despite its high-profile campaign.

Reports reaching here from the TDP headquarters indicate that Mr. Naidu fears that the defeat may send a wrong signal to the party's rank and file and to the opposition camps about the party's state of affairs in his home town. Mr. Naidu, however, tried to put up a brave face at a press conference on Thursday in Chittoor saying that a defeat in a ZPTC by-election could not be a barometer for the party's performance. He also sought to seek solace from the fact that the overall performance of the party in the by-election was impressive considering that the TDP's overall tally in the MPTC by-elections, held along with the ZPTC, went up from nine to 10 while the Congress tally came down to five from 10. He pointed out that the Vedurukuppam was even otherwise the Congress seat, meaning that the TDP did not lose anything.

He, however, admitted that the party's defeat had nonetheless exposed the chinks in the party's district party leadership and its managerial abilities. He said he was aware of the `over-play' done by some power department officials by disconnecting supply to pumpsets of some farmers in the area on the pretext of `pending power bills'. "I know that some people have `sabotaged' the TDP chances in the Vedurukuppam bypoll and I am gathering details about the episode."

The District Minister, B. Gopalakrishna Reddy, and the district party chief, G. Rameshchandra Prasad, who spearheaded the TDP campaign for the by poll were also present.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh