Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has decided to not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Telangana. The TDP, however, is yet to take a call on whom it will support in Telangana, a senior party leader said.
TDP spokesperson Jyothsna Tirunagari said the TDP will, however, contest the local body polls likely to be held in June or July this year.
She told news agency PTI: "Though we are part of the NDA, we are not contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana. The decision on whom to support in the upcoming polls in Telangana will be taken by the party's senior leadership. As of now, there is no instruction on that."
Internal turmoil post Chandrababu Naidu's arrest
The TDP has facing many challenges for the past few years and the situation took a turn for the worse when its chief and former Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu was arrested in a graft case. After he was arrested, the party decided to not contest state assembly elections held in November last year.
Following this, the then TDP state president Ksanai Gnaneswar left TDP and joined the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) before the polls. Since then, the party in Telangana has become headless and has been fraught with the desertions of several leaders and cadres.
The TDP, which managed to win two seats in the 2018 Assembly polls in Telangana, polled 3.51 per cent of votes. It had a pre-poll pact with Congress and the CPI then.As the TDP did not contest the polls last year, other parties wooed its leaders and pocketed its vote pie in the Assembly polls.
Replying to a query, Tirunagari said there were no official instructions on whom to support in the 2023 Assembly polls in Telangana. The choice of support was left to the local leadership, and they took decisions as per the prevailing conditions in their respective constituencies.
"Appointing a president to the Telangana unit of the party will be decided in Mahanadu (the TDP's annual conclave)," the TDP leader said.
BJP's prospects in Telangana
Meanwhile, political strategist Prashant Kishor said in a recent interview that the BJP is likely to either be the first or the second party in Telangana. He also predicted positive outcomes for the saffron party in Odisha and West Bengal.
"They (BJP) will either be first or second party in Telangana, which is a big thing. They will be number one in Odisha for sure. You would be surprised as, in all likelihood, to my mind, the BJP is going to be number one party in West Bengal," he said.
However, some experts are of the opinion that while the BJP will gain seats, the gains wouldn't be major this time. "In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, criticism from both the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and the Congress unexpectedly benefited the BJP in securing four seats. This time the election doesn’t seem to revolve around Modi in Telangana at least," Political analyst professor Nageshwar Rao told The Times of India.
(With PTI inputs)