HYDERABAD, Jan 21: The Telugu Desam Party may have made a huge success of the United Front's inaugural rally here on Monday, but will it be enough to overcome the negative impact of the farmers' suicides on its electoral fortunes?This question haunts the party and its chief Chandrababu Naidu as he kicks off the TDP's electoral campaign tomorrow from the temple town of Tirupati.Dozens of cotton farmers burdened by the inability to pay off their debts, mostly to private money lenders, following crop losses recently ended their lives in the Telangana region of the State.This couldn't have come at a worse time for the ruling party - already having to worry about a resurgent Congress and Sonia Gandhi. Local political observers feel that the TDP would have to go all out to retain its 1996 election tally.The anti-incumbency factor would also be at work with the Naidu Government now in office for two-and-a-half years. The popular Rs 2 a kg rice scheme and prohibition introduced during the late N T Rama Rao's time have been shelved.That the TDP is perturbed over the farmers' suicides is evident from the fact that even Prime Minister I K Gujral referred to it at the UF rally, promising all help in the hour of distress.While acknowledging that the farmers' suicides was indeed an important issue, Naidu did not agree that it would mar his party's poll prospects. ``We will win over 30 seats out of the 42,'' he declared to visiting journalists from New Delhi.He said the State Government was not sitting quietly. ``I am fighting with the Centre to get relief for farmers affected by the drought and crop losses. I have got the release of Rs 12 crore to compensate the losses of cotton farmers and Rs 30 crore for drought relief cleared by the Prime Minister,'' he said.``We have asked the Centre for Rs 70 crore which we have to get because it is a national calamity,'' he added.The TDP chief said his government's performance over the last two-and-a- half years would silence his critics.
