It is an undeniable fact that Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been fighting aggressively against the YSR Congress party government headed by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy day in and day out.
But, it appears Naidu has been losing the acceptability among the people as a politician, though it is still a long way to go for the next assembly elections to be held in 2024.
It was evident from the way Naidu’s party has been putting up dismal performance in the local body elections in his own native constituency Kuppam in Chittoor district.
In the ZPTC and MPTC elections, results of which were declared on Sunday, the TDP faced a humiliating defeat in Naidu’s assembly constituency Kuppam. The YSRC bagged all the four ZPTCs and 62 out of 65 MPTCs in Kuppam.
In the gram panchayat elections held in February this year, too, YSRC had won 75 out of 89 gram panchayats and the TDP was confined to just 14 seats. It is a sort of personal disgrace for Naidu and clearly indicates that he is fast losing grip over the constituency.
Even in Naidu’s own village Naravaripalle in Chandragiri assembly constituency, the TDP could not win the MPTC seat and conceded it to the YSRC.
No wonder, if Naidu loses his Kuppam seat in the next assembly elections. There is also a talk that he might shift to some other safer constituency if the TDP doesn’t improve its performance in the constituency.
On the other hand, Naidu’s brother-in-law and Hindupur MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna is still viewed as a film actor rather than a full-time politician.
Though being elected as an MLA for the last two terms, it is not because of his popularity as a politician but because the constituency is still a traditional TDP stronghold and moreover, the people are strongly attached to the sentiment of his father N T Rama Rao.
In the latest ZPTC and MPTC elections, the TDP won seven MPTCs in Balakrishna’s Hindupur assembly constituency, though it could not win any ZPTC seats. That way, Balakrishna put up a better show than Naidu in the local body elections.
This has led to a talk in the TDP circles that Balakrishna is much better than his brother-in-law. For that matter, in many other assembly constituencies, the TDP put up a better show by winning more MPTC seats than in Kuppam.
So, what is in store for Naidu in the coming days?