AP CM ill at ease over KCR’s friendly overtures

Amaravati: The gracing of the marriage of AP Civil Supplies Minister Paritala Sunitha’s son Sriram by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in Anantapur 10 days ago continues to find its echoes in the ruling Telugu Desam Party’s firmament. AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s reactions at a party coordination committee meeting here on Monday came in evidence for the flutters caused by the KCR’s gestures during the marriage function.

KCR came by a special flight and spent well over a couple of hours at Venkatapuram, the venue of the marriage. He went to the memorial of Paritala Ravi, Sunitha’s slain husband for paying him floral tributes. Later, an unusual bonhomie was witnessed in a one-to-one meeting KCR had with TDP AP general secretary Payyavula Kesav, breaking the barriers between the two parties.

The KCR’s new found love for the TDP obviously does not go well with the latter’s ranks in Telangana. In fact, the TDP in Telangana is waging a grim battle for survival after the poaching of its 11 out of 16 MLAs by the TRS. KCR’s overt overtures in AP fuelled speculations over the probabilities of TDP and TRS forging a common platform to fight the Congress in Telangana.

Chandrababu did not hide his displeasure over the political developments propelled by KCR through his gestures during the marriage. Naidu ticked off Kesav for allegedly having played into the game plan of Chandrasekhar Rao. KCR is seemingly in a desperate bid to take on the Congress, backed by Reddys, with the support of the TDP which is identified with Kammas on his native turf.

The Reddy community, the political class in the undivided state, became displaced after the state bifurcation and is mustering strength to claim for power in the upcoming Assembly elections in 2019. In the process, the community in the Congress sees a mascot in Prof Kodandaram, who became an ideological face of the separate Telangana movement. Kodandaram happens to be from the Reddy community and is training guns against KCR, his one-time ‘comrade-in-arms’ during the Telangana movement .

For KCR, from the numerically negligible Velama community, to post a win, support from the demographically strong Backward Classes and economically strong Kammas in Telangana is need of the hour.

The BCs are considered to be a strong vote bank for the TDP and the Kammas, who are a decisive force in not less than 25 Assembly segments falling under the Godavari basin in Telangana, are its backbone.

Although the TDP paid a heavy price for its identification as more of an Andhra party during the elections as an offshoot of the separatist movement, it is still a strong cadre-based party.

But it is plagued with leadership crisis. For Naidu who is straining his every nerve to help his party regain the lost ground in Telangana and emerge as a strong contender for power in the coming elections, the TDP-TRS bonhomie is somehow out of taste.