Naidu arrives to hero's welcome

Declares Dharma Yudham against Congress Telugu Desam Party President N Chandrababu Naidu was on Sunday accorded a rousing reception by party workers at Shamshabad airport from where he was taken home in a 'victory rally' via party headquarters NTR Trust Bhavan. Naidu was accompanied by his brother-in-law and film actor Balakrishna and other party leaders. A huge number of party cadres led by T Srinivasa Yadav received them at the airport. Addressing a meeting organised near the airport, Naidu declared 'Dharma Yuddam' against the State government. He called upon people to extend their unstinted support to his fight against 'corrupt' political forces in the State and save the State from the clutches of Congress government. "YSR Congress Party is a corrupt political party and TRS a farm house party," he reiterated. Congress government should be thrown out for failure on all fronts and breakdown of law and order, he said and rued Hyderabad had become a hub of terrorists and rowdy sheeters. He assured people of clean and orderly governance, peace and progress if the TDP was voted to power.

Speaking of power problems, he said the Congress had turned the State into an 'Andhakara Pradesh' with its lopsided policies. He vowed to bring back the glory that he had earned for the State and Hyderabad in terms of infrastructure and investments and employment. Before reaching his house at Jubilee Hills, Naidu paid tributes to party founder President N T Rama Rao at NTR Ghat. He was received by his family members including wife Bhuvaneshwari and Telugu Mahila wokers and leaders at his residence. The rally proceeded via Mehdipatnam, Lakdikapul, NTR Ghat Road and NTR Trust Bhavan.

Babu back in the reckoning The mammoth crowd response makes him a lot more confident and his eyes sparkle with light, at last. The walkathon, which had earned him the epithet of A "Nadaka Mitra" as he was labelled by his bête noire Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, has given him the first hand feel of the people in the State and how they are disillusioned with the State's political affairs. Perhaps, he managed to have a sound knowledge of what the people have been craving for

D Chandra Bhaskar Rao The longest ever walkathon, perhaps the most strenuous feat ever undertaken by any leader of his age in the state, has eventually come to a very successful end in Visakhapatam.A The man who strode along the villages, towns and cities of the state for 208 days covering a distance of 2817 km, indeed had his eyes sparkle with light at last, thanks to the mammoth turnout at the rally at the port city, that renewed the hopes of staging a comeback. TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu hit the road in search of a pre-election roadmap - for political resurgence of the yellow cadres on October 2, 2012. Except for the brief spells of rest and intervals caused by political exigencies, he has spent fairly a long time, to be precise one tenth of his second tenure as the leader of the Opposition in the midst of people. It is all for the sake of the cause he had been fully enamoured with -- revival of the dwindled political fortunes of his party. He had spent days and nights planning for tasks ahead as he walked in the midst of milling crowds. The response he received in the last leg of the Yatra was overwhelming and it helped in emboldening the cadres accompanied him. The walkathon, which had earned him the epithet of " Nadaka Mitra" as he was labelled by his bête noire Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, has given him the firsthand feel of the people in the state and how they are disillusioned with the state's political affairs. Perhaps he managed to have a sound knowledge of what the people have been craving for. Though people have begun to take political assurance with a pinch of salt because of the yawning gap between the words and deeds of the political leaders and people in power, Naidu had made his quota of promises to people during the Yatra. He has drawn enough criticism and disapproval on this count on the plea that the state budget may not support what he has sought to dole out if he is voted again to power. TDP bigwigs are busy sorting and listing the promises mandal wise, district wise, age group wise, community wise and so on as part of the post-mortem exercise which is underway. Much of the promises made were pertaining to issues that the government failed to attend to. Naidu, who now claims to be a changed man, seeks to succeed when the Congress government has failed. The promises made by Naidu during the exercise will finally take the shape of a policy draft at the annual Mahanadu � the party anniversary celebrations scheduled for May 27, 28 and 29 during which the party seeks to celebrate the success of the "Vastunna Meekaosam Yatra". The TDP leadership claims it to be one of the effective public contact programmes that evoked an overwhelming appeal. Naidu will be availing himself a much needed break soon to consolidate his strategies into a solid action plan. He had enough indications from the grassroots that he has been left with no scope to rest on his laurels. He needs to rework his strategies to outwit the challenge posed by other principal political parties in the state. The Chief Minister has launched a public contact programme touring in districts vigorously on one pretext or the other besides the Indiramma Bata. The YSRCP leaders have hit the road along with their bandwagon staking claim for the legacy of the former chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy. Close on his heels, Sharmila embarked on a 3000 km long state wide padayatara on October 18 last. She is all set to equal her father's feat of 1600 km-long Padayatra that brought the Congress back into power in 2004. Y S Vijayamma, widow of the former chief minister launched the Rachabanda, yet another mass contact exercise, from Chevella in Ranga Reddy on Saturday in a bid to stir up the cadres into action and galvanise support for the party. The TRS chief, re-elected as the steward of the saffron squadrons for the sixth consecutive term, is planning for a bus yatra covering all the ten districts of the region soon. The TDP chief will resume his blitzkrieg by setting out on a bus yatra for covering the pockets he failed to reach out during his " Vastunna Meekosam Yatra". The bus yatra is likely to take off in June. Naidu seeks to have treatment for the stress he had to his knees during the walkathon. He may opt to have it in the USA and family members are expected to join him during the trip. But he has set his eyes on the immediate tasks before him. As the party sources say, more than 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state have no full-fledged persons in-charge for the Telugu Desam. So is the case with some key assembly constituencies wherein the party had lost its ground sufficiently. Though his yatra helped in containing desertions from the party to a considerable extent, the decision of Karimnagar MLA Gangula Kamalakar to join the TRS came in as an eye opener for the TDP leadership. Half-a-dozen TDP MLAs from Telangana were said to be still looking forward to joining the TRS. Naidu's change of stand on the demand for Telangana state failed to instill confidence in them. It remained rather a non- issue during his yatra in the Seemandra region, felt the leaders who were bound for the TRS. Naidu did not even venture to seek the mandate from the people in Seemandhra to respond to the demand for separate Telangana. The focus of his attack during the yatra was more on corruption in administration, the failing priorities of the government, plight of the peasant community and state slipping into darkness being short of energy. The Congress party spared neither the yatra nor his antics that were intended to identify himself with the people at the grassroots. Flanked by his brother-in-law Balakrishna and son Lokesh, the TDP chief appeared a lot more confident than ever. And he is very much back in the reckoning.