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Monday 9 March 2009

Will the Grand Alliance bring home the bacon?

VV Balakrishna
First Published : 09 Mar 2009 08:40:00 AM IST
There are many imponderables that appear to be major hurdles in the way to victory for the partner political parties


ONE GOAL :To regain power in the State.

TWO STATES :TDP declared that it had no objection to the State’s bifurcation.

THREE STARS :Balakrishna, NTR Jr and Vijayasanti to campaign for the Grand Alliance.

FOUR PARTIES : TDP, TRS, CPM and CPI formed into Grand Alliance.

50 PER CENT :Votes the leaders are expecting to get in the polls.

200 PROMISES :Given by TDP to voters, including distribution of CTVs.

Rs 2,000 :The amount to be deposited in the bank accounts of the poor by the TDP Government through Cash Transfer Scheme.


It seems that all the figures are in favour of the recently formed Grand Alliance, whose main aim is to defeat the Congress. But, the picture is not as rosy as it appears on paper.

The ground realities are otherwise.

The fight among the four partners of Grand Alliance over the number of seats is still continuing. TDP, TRS, CPM and CPI are yet to resolve the issue of whom to contest in which seat. The Grand Alliance partners, also dropped the proposal of holding a joint public meeting due to lack of time for arrangements.

Though a TDP politburo member asserted that there would be joint-meetings in the districts, it is not clear whether the partners, especially, the TDP and TRS will share a common dais during the election campaign.

There is also a big danger of several prominent leaders from all the four parties switching loyalties to other parties in the event of their losing their own seats due to alliance among the four parties.

The new friendship is causing more despondency than delight among the leaders of the alliance. In view of all these, the Grand Alliance is yet to make an impact on the people of the State.

On the other hand, differences are cropping up in the CPM in its traditional bastion Khammam district. The other worry is whether the leadership of four parties are capable of transferring their traditional votes to others after seat-adjustment.

The elections to local bodies was a bitter experience for the TDP and the CPM. The CPM votes were transferred to the TDP, but TDP voters ditched CPM candidates in Visakhapatnam Corporation elections. At the hustings, the Alliance partners will have to face trouble from rebels and cross voting by own party leaders.

Several TDP leaders are ready to ensure the defeat of the TRS and the Left leaders in case the TDP allotted a particular seats to them.

The moot question is: Will the mixing of - yellow, pink and red - present a vibrant rainbow for the Alliance leaders or leave them red faced? However, the TDP and Left leaders have been repeatedly asserting that they would come out with flying colours in the next elections and everything would go well with the Grand Alliance.

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