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TRS reaches out to Jagan, even as TDP reboots its software to attack the duo

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A Saye Sekhar
A Saye SekharJan 21, 2019 | 11:25

TRS reaches out to Jagan, even as TDP reboots its software to attack the duo

It has been five days and the embers from the fire ignited by last week's meeting between Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s (TRS) working president, KT Rama Rao (KTR), and YSR Congress Party’s president and Leader of the Opposition in Andhra Pradesh, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, are still billowing political smoke.

The TRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao — who had rejected the proposal of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to work together outright — now offered an olive branch to YS Jagan. Soon after the hour and a half-long meeting was over, both KTR and Jagan announced to the media that they would work out the modalities on how to go about Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh, and also how AP and Telangana MPs could coordinate to achieve the status in the future.

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Jagan also welcomed KCR’s initiative of creating a non-Congress, non-BJP political platform.

The past

Recapping for those who came in late — Naidu himself endorsed the statement of KTR that the former had mooted the idea of working together when they met ahead of Naidu’s brother-in-law’s — N Harikrishna (NTR’s son) — funeral.

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KTR and Naidu: The alliance was ruled out even before it was thought of. (Image: Twitter)

However, the proposal was rejected by the TRS on the pretext that there was no political sync or ideological equation between the two parties. While TDP leaders and the media — serving the TDP’s interests for several years now — cried foul and blew the bugle against the meeting of the two leaders, the repartee from the YSR Congress was equally forceful. The main woe of the TDP camp was — how could Jagan join hands with TRS leaders, who criticised Andhra leaders so bitterly and constantly.

The imagined impact

The TDP strongly believes that the Jagan-KTR meet would create a negative impact on the prospects of the YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh — at least, all the TDP wings and the party's associated bodies are spreading the narrative that the TRS-YSRC truck would have the same negative impact in AP as was created by Chandrababu Naidu’s campaign and participation in the Telangana elections in coalition with the Congress and two other parties (the Praja Kutami or the Mahakutami).

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Where they're going wrong

What the TDP’s intelligentsia and media mandarins have failed to factor in is that the TRS is not going to contest from any constituency in Andhra Pradesh in the upcoming elections. The TRS leadership may not even consider campaigning in favour of the YSR Congress — the ruling party in Telangana is not nursing an ambition to control politics in Andhra.

There is a geo-economic reason behind this reluctance — while the leaders of Andhra have pecuniary interests in Telangana, especially in Hyderabad, the converse is not true. If the Praja Kutami of the Congress, TDP, CPI and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) had wrested power from the TRS in Telangana, Naidu would surely have held the reins of Telangana in his hands with some delight.

The Telangana sentiment

But there are historical and philosophical reasons that worked in the Telangana elections — starting with the strong Telangana sentiment that flowed as a powerful undercurrent in favour of KCR. In fact, the sentiment did not spark off until Naidu directly swung into action with his electioneering and fielded Harikrishna’s daughter, Chundru (Nandamuri) Suhasini, from Kukatpally constituency.

It was then that the Telangana voter got alerted — and was determined to insulate KCR from the onslaught of the Chandrababu Naidu-led Praja Kutami. KCR — who knows Naidu’s political moves like the back of his hand — pulled out all possible stops and portrayed Naidu as the main villain in a 'Game of Thrones' in Telangana.

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With Naidu (R) setting out to woo KTR (centre), it is Jagan (L) with whom the TRS leader decided to shake hands. But will this alliance be the undoing of YSRCP in Andhra? (Image: DailyO)

The Andhra angle

There is a set of stark contrasts in the ground situation in Andhra Pradesh.

Jaganmohan Reddy is a formidable opposition to the TDP. Further, it is not clear whether Naidu would continue his alliance with the Congress in Andhra Pradesh or dump it. Naidu — who enjoyed the support of the BJP and Telugu cine star Pawan Kalyan’s Janasena in the 2014 elections — has fallen out with both. The break-up was bitter with the BJP, it was ‘embarrassing’ with the Janasena.

While Pawan Kalyan has broken up with the TDP, it is Naidu’s party that walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). However, Naidu successfully wooed Pawan Kalyan back to the fold of the TDP, though nothing has been formalised yet.

The electorate's behaviour

An analysis by TRS leaders about voter behaviour is noteworthy — according to them, most migrant voters from Andhra Pradesh still have moorings in their home state and they form part of the representative sample from across the state’s 13 districts. They understand the dynamics of the political situation in their home state.

Even if there is an iota of a popular tilt in favour of the TDP, they would not have rallied behind the TRS — as these migrants are apparently actively involved in politics in their respective native villages and towns.

This apart, they feel more confident about their safety and well-being in Telangana under the leadership of the TRS than any other political party.

While the TDP spared no efforts in injecting thoughts of how “unholy” the nexus between Jagan and KCR could be in the minds of the voters who showed their rejection of Andhra, the YSR Congress gave a befitting reply by projecting how Chandrababu Naidu tried for an alliance with the same KCR and his TRS. 

While the negatives were cancelled out by each other, Jagan hopes to harp on KCR’s positive image — and Naidu wants to hark back to KCR’s bitter criticism and anti-AP politics.

Amidst the political smoke, which narrative the voter will finally buy remains to be seen.

Last updated: January 21, 2019 | 11:43
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