After polls, it will be end of road for Naidu: KTR

Minister for IT and Industries K T Rama Rao on Wednesday predicted a gloomy future for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, stating that after the 2019 general elections, the latter would be inconsequential in politics.

Stating that Naidu has been trying to position himself as a principal entity in the Third Front, Rama Rao said all these manoeuvres were to cover up his failure in his own State. “Post 2019, Naidu will not enjoy any political clout. He may face defeat in his home State and may not have any MPs with him, making himself inconsequential in politics,” the Minister said in an informal chat with mediapersons here.

Stating that once the TRS establishes its government in Telangana on December 11, the party’s leadership will take up the issue of Federal Front in next three months.

Chief Minister and TRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao initiated the process of meeting leaders of different parties to forge the Federal Front when Chandrababu Naidu was sailing with Modi. “He is doing nothing new about the Front, he is trying to meet the leaders, including Sonia Gandhi who are all part of the UPA,” he said.

He made it clear that TRS would not be part of any front that had either Congress or the BJP. “Both have done equal damage to the country. The Twill not share any dais with the TDP also,” he said.

Rama Rao said the so called pre-poll survey of former MP Lagadapati Rajagopal was grossly misleading and a mind-game of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

In an informal chat with the media, he said the survey was scripted by the duo – Lagadapati and Naidu – in coordination with the representatives of two media houses. “Lagadapati had played the same kind of mind game against the YSRCP in 2014 and now they are making a vain attempt



to try it out on TRS,” he said.

Pointing out that it was the same Lagadapati who had congratulated him after predicting TRS victory in 65 to 70 seats based on a survey he conducted between October 20 and November 20, the Minister said he gave only two seats to Independents then. The outcome of his survey was shared with him on his mobile and the screenshot of it can be made available to anyone, he said.

Rama Rao recalled that he had disagreed with Lagadpati’s prediction and had made it clear that the TRS will surpass his survey figures. Taking into consideration TRS fight in the GHMC polls, Lagadapati had also admitted the possibility of TRS performing much better in the Assembly elections.

He wondered as to how Lagadapati gave different figures predicting advantage to the Congress-led Prajakutami. “As he had confirmed to the media, that survey was also conducted between October 20 and November 20. He also predicted a victory of some 10 Independents as against two he had projected to me earlier,” he said.

Quoting common friends, the Minister said Lagadapati was under pressure to give advantage to Prajakutami. He said the TRS had tasked many agencies with pre-poll surveys for its own consumption. 

Lagadapati also offered to join the exercise and wanted the list of constituencies to work on. He said he had in fact sought feedback on 20-22 constituencies.

Lagadapati had conducted his survey on 23 seats and predicted a TRS win in 19 of them. “He also wanted the TRS to fight the polls in alliance with the TDP in the State which was turned down. Finally, he brokered an understanding between Congress and the TDP,” he said, and wondered why the TDP would need TRS unless the latter had better electoral prospects.