The call given by Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to the party cadre not to celebrate the New Year Day festivities did not evoke any surprise.
Naidu called upon the party leaders and cadre to stay away from New Year Day celebrations in protest against the proposal of the YSR Congress party government to shift the administrative capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam.
He said the money that could be spent on the New Year Day celebrations could be donated to the joint action committee of Amaravati farmers’ organisations and also Forum to Safeguard Amaravati to sustain the agitation.
Naidu also asked the party leaders not to cut cakes and come to the office to greet him with bouquets. Instead, they should visit the villages of Amaravati and meet farmers and agriculture labourers to extend support to them.
Naidu is also planning to visit the Amaravati villages once again. Naidu is also planning to visit the Amaravati villages of Mandadam, Errabalem and Krishnalayapalem on the New Year Day.
There is absolutely nothing significant in Naidu’s appeal, as the party has nothing to cheer about and celebrate in the New Year. The party has faced the most humiliating defeat in the assembly elections in May and suffered irrecoverable loss.
The new government headed by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has been undoing whatever Naidu had done in the last five years and the proposal to shift the capital was like last nail in the TDP’s coffin.
Under these circumstances, if Naidu and his party leaders celebrate the New Year, it would only show them in bad light. So, he chose to stay away from any festivities!