Naidu says bypoll grapes are sour

Express News Service
First Published : 29 Jul 2010 03:33:46 AM IST
Last Updated : 29 Jul 2010 10:53:12 AM IST

HYDERABAD: A day after polling in the by-elections, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu said that he did not take the elections seriously.

“We were busy with Babli agitation and none of the party seniors had time for campaigning,” he said.

“I have no regrets for not campaigning in the election,” Naidu told reporters here today.

The by-elections were held in a different context, Naidu said pointing to the resignations of 12 MLAs and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s contradictory statements.

“As a political party, we have to contest the election and so we did. I am not predicting how many seats we will win,” Naidu said.

“I have seen several elections and they keep coming. This election will not change the equation of power in the state,” he opined.

As all the seniors, including him, were busy studying the material on Babli and meeting national leaders in Delhi, local leaders campaigned for the party candidates. They did their best, he added. Asked about the party’s prospects in the election, Naidu said the TDP stood third at several places in the previous elections and did well in some segments. He, however, did not explain the party’s position in the present by-election.

Asked why the party failed to utilise the elections to tell the voters that the TDP was pro-Telangana and submitted a memorandum to the Pranab Mukherjee committee, Naidu said since the party accorded priority to Babli, they focused on it. “Babli is an issue that will badly affect the future generations,” he said.

He denied allegations that the TDP had taken up Babli for elections. “We do not consider Babli as an issue that will create a vote bank for us,” he clarified.

Naidu said the party would intensify its Babli agitation if the Prime Minister did not respond to the 15-day deadline fixed by the TDP.

Former prime ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Indira Gandhi amicably sorted out inter-state river water disputes by holding meets with the chief ministers of respective states, Naidu recalled and added that Manmohan Singh lacked such initiative.

Asked whether he would go on a hunger strike on Babli after the deadline, Naidu said they were exploring various options.


Comments

This is expected answer from Babu. it is predefined. but the result will haunt babu till next election.
By sridhar
7/29/2010 9:08:00 PM