With the 'special status' promised to Andhra Pradesh more or less appearing to be a distant dream now, the onus is now on the TDP to see to it that its partner/ally, the BJP fulfills the commitment made to Andhra Pradesh.
Of course, the BJP can wash its hands off the matter by saying that it was the Congress/UPA which made this promise but then it would set a very bad precedent indeed.
Further, Venkayya Naidu, BJP Union Minister would have become another black sheep like ‘Kavuri Sambasiva Rao’ if he cannot use his clout to get the ‘special status’ to AP. But the Party to suffer the most would undoubtedly be the TDP.
Within a few months of coming to power, the credibility of the TDP has been severely damaged thanks to its backtracking on the ‘loan waiver’ issue and its highly controversial ‘land pooling’ scheme.
Despite the TDP having supported the bifurcation of the State by writing a letter to the Centre, the people of AP voted it to power in the hope that Naidu would replicate his ‘Hyderabad development model’ in AP also.
Unfortunately, Naidu today is only a shadow of his former self and making the same mistakes which were responsible for his downfall in 2004.
In this scenario, if the people of Andhra Pradesh are once again cheated by being deprived of a special status, there is no way the TDP can come back to power in 2019 unless Naidu can usher in some truly remarkable development which going by his actions seems unlikely!
The TDP and BJP would then be reduced to the same plight as the Congress. There would only be one Party that would benefit in such a scenario and that is YSRCP!
