Hyderabad: Political and legal issues are suffocating former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam party national president N. Chandrababu Naidu.
After the defeat in the Assembly elections, TD MPs, MLAs and prominent leaders have been abandoning the party one after another. And after a long time, the disproportionate assets and the cash-for-vote cases against Mr Naidu have come alive.
Four Rajya Sabha MPs of the TD have left the party and joined the BJP. Among them, Y. Sujana Chowdary and C.M. Ramesh were close to Mr Naidu. TD MLA Vallabhaneni Vamsi, AP Telugu Yuvatha (Youth wing) president Devineni Avinash have also left the party. Mr Avinash joined the YSRC, and Mr Vamsi announced his support for the same party. Some more TD MLAs are planning to desert very soon.
When Mr Naidu conducted a Deeksha on the sand issue, around 10 TD MLAs did not attend. During his meetings in the districts too, some party MLAs and senior leaders did not attend. This has never happened in the past when Mr Naidu served as the CM or opposition leader. Infighting in the party has increased in recent days. Court cases that had been stayed are being revived. In 2005, Lakshmi Parvathi, wife of TD founder NTR filed a case with the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) against Mr Naidu accusing him of having assets disproportionate to his income. The ACB has re-opened the case. YSRC MLA Alla Rama Krishna Reddy, who is fighting Mr Naidu in the cash-for-vote case, has again filed a petition in the Supreme Court to take the case for hearing.
Once the ACB and Supreme Court start hearing these cases, Mr Naidu’s opponents will have plenty of ammunition to attack him politically.
