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| Time for rethink on Telengana issue: TDP |
| Press Trust of India / Hyderabad May 20, 2009, 11:05 IST |
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With the TDP biting the dust in the Lok Sabha polls mainly due to its stance on the Telangana issue, Chandrababu Naidu's party today said it needs to do a re-think on the separate statehood issue.
"Our alliance with TRS proved counter-productive. It is time for us to do a re-think on Telengana," TDP spokesperson and member of legislative council Nannapanneni Rajakumari said.
The TDP's stance on Telangana cost it dearly in the Lok Sabha elections with people of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions not taking kindly to it. It managed only 36 seats out of 123 in the coastal Andhra region and just 16 out of 52 in Rayalaseema.
Naidu's schemes like monthly cash transfer and free colour televisions attracted people but have not converted into votes.
The ruling Congress emerged as a winner, thereby comprehensively trouncing the principal opposition party.
The TDP also harped on corruption issue with Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy as the focal point. This factor was effectively negated by the individual benefit schemes that the Congress government has been implementing and did not pay dividends to the TDP in the end.
Besides the nine-month-old Praja Rajyam Party cutting into the vote share of the TDP, mostly in coastal Andhra region, a political minnow like the Lok Satta Party of former bureaucrat N Jayaprakash Narayan also affected the prospects of the 27-year-old party.
The Lok Satta Party effect was largely felt in urban areas where the TDP could have easily managed at least 20-25 seats more. In the newly-created Vijayawada East Assembly segment, the PRP candidate won by a margin of 190 votes but the Lok Satta Party candidate, a former TDP leader, managed to secure about 8,000 votes.
This spoiled the chances of TDP nominee here. Same was the case in many constituencies in Greater Hyderabad. The Secunderabad seat too would have fallen in the TDP's kitty but for the Lok Satta Party which took away over 9200 votes.
Union minister S Jaipal Reddy faced a tough fight in the newly-created Chevella Lok Sabha constituency at the hands of TDP's Jitender Reddy. Here again the Lok Satta Party played spoilsport by splitting votes in Assembly segments like Serlingampally.
Even in Parigi Assembly segment, an independent candidate polled over 30,000 for Lok Sabha, hitting at the prospects of TDP.
The alliance with Left parties did not in any way benefit the TDP either, unlike the Congress which reaped a rich harvest in 2004. The TDP spokesperson admitted that Lok Satta had eaten into their votes at many places.
All these issues will come up for discussion during the two-day annual meet of TDP beginning on May 27.
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