The Hindu : Front Page : Chandrababu Naidu on a sticky wicket

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Chandrababu Naidu on a sticky wicket

K. Venkateshwarlu

HYDERABAD: Even as Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu completed 75th day of his “Mee Kosam Yatra” on Saturday proving his detractors somewhat wrong, ironically he seemed to find himself in a political logjam with seniors leaving him.

When he began his 150-day 10,000 km long yatra, on a hot morning on April 21 from a Dalit colony near Tirupati, many had dismissed it as too ambitious to last long. His detractors had argued that having enjoyed power for nine years he did not have credibility, stakes, tenacity and issues like his arch political rival, Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, possessed when he took up his ‘padayatra’ as leader of the Opposition.

Mr. Naidu rubbished their argument, as his ‘yatra’ trundled on for the 75th day. No doubt, Mr. Naidu indeed struck a chord among people, as he reached out to them with his impromptu halts, shaking hands and interacting with them to know their problems. Be it a farmer, artisan, street-side vendor, lorry driver or a daily wage earner, he did not miss any of them.

Embarrassment

But just as he thought he was able to win back the sections that have moved away from his party, he had to face the embarrassment of seeing some of his senior colleagues desert him one by one. And it was across three regions of the State. If it was Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao in Andhra, it was T. Devender Goud in Telangana and now the Bhuma couple in Rayalaseema. As if this were not enough, his dreams of playing a key role in national politics have come a cropper with Samajwadi Party all but moving away from UNPA.

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