The facts behind ‘Chalo Atmakur’

Vijayawada: Telugu Desam President Chandrababu Naidu succeeded in grabbing the attention of the national media with his latest stint ‘Chalo Atmakur’. His decision to go to Atmakur to save his cadre created a buzz in Andhra Pradesh, as the Telugu Desam cadre across the state geared up for a fight against the ruling party, for the first time since they lost power in the state in a humiliating way.

The assaults on TD men might have been the reason for TD’s protest, but political analysts claim that the aim of ‘Chalo Atmakur’ is to rejuvenate the party from its recent poll debacle. The party has to wait for another five years to claim power in Andhra Pradesh. But the biggest threat is from the BJP who is very aggressive in its approach to become a stakeholder in Andhra politics.

The saffron party could successfully merge the four members of TD’s Rajya Sabha leaders and try to move its pawns to empty the opposition. Former Minister Adi Narayana Reddy is all set to join the BJP and other leaders from TD are weighing their options, as they feel that the future is bleak in the yellow party.

It’s discovered that former minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao is also trying to defect the yellow party to join the ruling YSR Congress. But Mr Jagan is very particular that an MLA or MP who wishes to join his team should resign from their present seat. "The former minister is pondering if he should resign from his MLA seat. It is very difficult to contest in elections again, as one needs the money and muscle power", said a close associate of the former minister.

"Another four to five MLAs are ready to defect, but the condition of the ruling party is stopping them from switching sides," said a senior YSR Congress leader under the condition of anonymity.

To deviate from the issues that are hampering the party’s image, Chandrababu Naidu created much hype about ‘Chalo Atmakur’, said a senior journalist. "The case against former Whip Chintamaneni Prabhakar, the Assembly furniture shifting issue related to former Assembly Speaker Dr Kodela Siva Prasad and unauthorized mining activities of former MLA Yarapatineni Srinivasa Rao hampered the image of the yellow party. It is high time he saved his face in the public. Chalo Atmakur may be taken up to divert the attention of the public," he said.

However, Prof. K.Nageswar has a different opinion. "Chalo Atmakur is a political issue. As a political party, Telugu Desam is taking up protests against the ruling party. This is quite common to an opposition. We can’t term it as the struggle for existence," Nageswar told Newsmeter. He ruled out that the BJP can damage the prospects of TD, as the former could only get less than one per cent seats in the recent assembly elections.