A month after Chandrababu’s arrest, TDP on pause, hopes to ride ‘sympathy wave’

There were also indications that Naidu was going to go all out through the yatra. In a meeting last November, Naidu had said the 2024 polls would be his last if people did not not vote his party to power. In the 2019 Assembly elections, the TDP had been decimated, winning only 23 seats in the 175-member House, with 151 constituencies going to the YSRCP

After that, Naidu, through his Idemi Kharma Mana Rashtraniki (Why is our state facing this fate) programme, addressed over 50 public meetings across the state, which gained good traction.

Naidu’s son N Lokesh Naidu had also started his own yatra called Yuva Galam (Youth’s voice) to mobilise the youth. But this too has had to take a back seat, with Lokesh having to mobilise cadres against the September 10 arrest of the TDP chief.

CID arrested former Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu (Photo: X/@ncbn)

TDP leaders claim Naidu’s attacks on the YSRCP government over “corruption, inefficient governance, lack of investments, and rising unemployment” had “unnerved” CM Jagan.

“Naidu’s public meetings were successful. They proved that people were unhappy with the Jagan government and YSRCP politics. The response that Lokesh generated was also very encouraging. He will resume the padayatra as soon as Chandrababu is out on bail,” said TDP president K Atchannaidu.

He added that people were now even more “eager to see Chandrababu and Lokesh back on the ground” and that the leader’s “illegal arrest” has “generated a sympathy wave for Chandrababu’’.

The party also sees the tie-up with actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP) as a “boost” for the party.

YSRCP reaction

While YSRCP leaders say they do not make much of the “sympathy factor” the TDP is talking about, the party has been ramping up efforts to consolidate its base.

“We are preparing to win all 175 Assembly seats and decimate the TDP. They are only dreaming of coming to power. Here is the truth: Jagan is the most popular leader in the state and will storm back to power. Naidu is in jail because he indulged in corruption, insider trading, and money laundering. If it was a politically-motivated arrest, he would have been granted bail by now,’’ YSRCP leader Ambati Rambabu said.

All MLAs and ministers in the party have been directed to organise bus yatras under the banner of ‘Why AP needs Jagan’ across the state starting November 1. Ministers and YSRCP leaders have been told to speak at community meetings and interact with people at the level of villages and municipal wards. The party is hoping to stress on its “welfare programmes” through these. The party is also holding special sports festivals in every village.

Reddy has also tasked YSRCP’s SC/ST, backward class and minority leaders to take up bus yatras in every constituency between October 25 and December 3. They are expected to conduct three public meetings a day.