In the 2014 assembly elections, there is hardly two to three per cent difference in the percentage of voting between the Telugu Desam Party and the YSR Congress party.
Even this marginal difference led the TDP to power with over 100 assembly seats out of 175 and the YSRC had to remain content with 67 seats.
This time, the TDP wants to not only consolidate the existing vote bank, but also achieve another 10 per cent votes.
During the two-day training programme for the party functionaries, TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced an action plan for the next six months to increase its vote bank by another 10 per cent.
But the way Naidu wants to achieve the target itself is causing concern. He wants the party leaders to follow the model poll plan implemented in Kuppam, Nandyala and Kakinada.
He asked the party rank and file of the party to take the recent Nandyal and Kakinada election results as model to achieve success.
For example in Nandyal, the TDP got nearly 56 per cent of votes, compared to 38 per cent of votes polled by the YSRC. But everybody knows how the TDP managed the polls to win the votes with its money and man power. It is virtually impossible to follow the same model in the general elections.
Explaining his secret on the continuous success formula in Kuppam constituency, he said that he had been maintaining relations with the public without fail even if he could not visit the constituency regularly.
“I visited Kuppam only 72 times though I have been representing the constituency for the last 30 years. In every election, I secured majority of 45,000 to 60,000 votes. Again I can get a majority of 60,000 votes, if an election is held now,” said Naidu exuding confidence.
