Naidu romps home on Modi wave

• Successfully sells dreams of rapid growth, plentiful jobs
• Pawan also helps pave way for TDP to power
• But, YSRCP will be a force to reckon with in AP
• It will keep Naidu on the edge over his promises

Hyderabad: The TDP-BJP alliance swept to power in Seemandhra, disproving the predictions of pollsters. TDP would be coming back to power after a gap of 10 years. The party has won over 100 Assembly and 15 Lok Sabha seats.

According to political analysts, the hard work put in by TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu in the last one-and-half-a-years, the promises he had made to the electorate and the Modi wave helped the party register significant gains in both elections to Assembly and Parliament. The yellow party also had an added advantage in the form of Pawan Kalyan whose spirited speeches and call of ‘Congress Hatao and Desh Bachao’ helped it in influencing the voters.

Though normally caste plays a very important factor in polls, this time it appears that more than the caste factor the people of Seemandhra gave vent their ire at the manner in which the Centre had bifurcated the state. They also looked forward and felt that when they had to choose between the two parties – the TDP and its main contender the YSRCP – they should prefer TDP since the foremost requirement of the new State was to develop at a high speed.

Interestingly, Naidu for whom this was a do-or-die battle picked up issues like waiver of farmers loans and was successful in putting across the slogan that “if you want job you should bring in Babu. (Job kavalante Babu Ravali).” The walkathon of Naidu covering about 2,800 km in about 117 days had also helped in creating an atmosphere in favour o f the TDP.

Though YSRCP president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy left no stone unturned and had put in great efforts and promised to bring back ‘Rajanna Rajyam’ and continue all the welfare measures initiated by his late father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, people seem to have preferred TDP. However, YSRCP has proved that it is a force to be reckoned with in Seemandhra and could keep the ruling party on tenterhooks if it fails to implement the promises it had made during the election campaign.