With elections to the state assembly and Lok Sabha fast approaching, various speculations are doing rounds in political circles with every passing day. Some have reasoning and others are just wild guesses.
The latest speculation is that Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu might contest for Lok Sabha elections in 2019, leaving the field in the state to his son Nara Lokesh.
According to these reports, Naidu is planning to contest from Vijayawada parliamentary constituency which is dominated by his own Kamma community.
The advantage of Amaravati and release of water to Krishna delta through Pattiseema project would be of immense help to Naidu to win the seat.
There are two reasons for Naidu to opt for LS polls. First, he may have a bigger role at the national level in the event of the reports that the Bharatiya Janata Party might not come to power and an anti-BJP front with the Congress support would replace it.
Secondly, the chances of the TDP coming to power in Andhra Pradesh are bleak and Naidu would not like to sit in the Opposition facing a younger leader like Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. Therefore, it would be better to be in Delhi than in Vijayawada.
And there is also a pressure from his son Lokesh to contest the assembly elections. The only safest seat for him is Kuppam, which he has been nurturing for quite some.
But to be on the safe side, Naidu also is likely to contest from one of the assembly segments in Vijayawada, so that in case the TDP wins the assembly elections, he can retain it and give up the LS seat and continue as the chief minister for yet another term!
May be this is a kite-flying report, but nothing is impossible in politics!
