Many political observers and even senior politicians are of the view that Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu was able to win the elections not because he has the public support, but because he is an expert in poll management.
Even former MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar said several times that though YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has tremendous support in the public, he lacks the poll management abilities of Naidu.
The TDP president has mastered the expertise of booth-level management of electorate, which Jagan could not, which is why he could not succeed in 2014 elections, the ex-MP said.
On Sunday, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and caretaker chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, too, acknowledged the same.
He told the party MLA candidates at a meeting in Telangana Bhavan that they should adopt the poll management techniques of Naidu, rather than being over-confident about their victory in the elections.
“In 2014, Naidu had brought the polling under his control in every polling booth in the first couple of hours itself by mobilizing the party cadre. On the other hand, Jagan thought he had the overwhelming support of people because of his father’s programmes. That made the difference. Like Naidu, we too, should gain control over the polling in the initial stages itself, before the opponents influence the voters,” he said.
KCR also comes from the Naidu school of thought and hence, is trying to follow Naidu’s strategy. But it does not work always.
He has forgotten a simple logic that Naidu lost power in 2004 and his so-called poll management techniques did not work despite being in power at that time.
People decided to vote against Naidu and they did it to bring the Congress to power. In 2009, too, Naidu’s techniques did not work.
And Naidu was in opposition for 10 years before 2014; he did not have enough financial resources; many leaders had defected to the Congress during the YSR regime before 2009 elections and then to YSR Congress party before 2014.
The division of the state has eroded his party’s cadre base to a great extent and Naidu was at a political crossroads because of his two-eyed theory on the state bifurcation.
Yet, Naidu could come to power not just because of his poll management techniques but because of other factors such as alliance with the BJP and Jana Sena Party at the last moment.
The people also thought it was better to give the chance to an experienced leader like Naidu to administer the divided state, rather than a novice like Jagan.
So, if KCR thinks he can win the elections by following Naidu’s footsteps in poll management, he is mistaken.
In fact, the Congress party has a stronger cadre base compared to Naidu and they are better experienced in such kind of poll management techniques.
If the people of the state want to give one more chance to KCR, they will give. Otherwise, they will not hesitate to pull him down notwithstanding his Naidu-style techniques!
