MLC Polls: TDP’s Groundwork Started 2 Months Back!

The victory of TDP’s Panchumarti Anuradha in MLA quota MLC poll is a rude shock to ruling YSRCP. This is after TDP swept 3 out of 3 seats in the graduate MLC election. With such back-to-back jolts to YSRCP, the mastermind behind this is none other than Chandrababu Naidu. The seasoned politician with nearly 5 decades of experience has shown his mark. YSRCP leaders are not able to process these defeats and are yet to ascertain what exactly went wrong and who voted against the party.

CM Jagan clearly has an advantage to win the 7th MLC seat in MLA quota. He has support of 4 rebel TDP MLAs and 1 rebel Janasena MLA. In addition, he is in power. As TDP leader Payyavula Keshav rightly pointed out, the party in ruling can influence more than a party in the opposition. In a startling revelation, Keshav said they will reveal the YSRCP’s attempts to influence TDP MLAs in the coming week. This is evident that both YCP and TDP had fought severely for this 1 MLC seat. But it is the TDP which came out with the flying colours against all the odds. This is where Chandrababu showed his mastery.

Groundwork

The groundwork for MLA quota MLC polls started much earlier. Chandrababu Naidu along with senior TDP leaders have been working for the last 2 months for these MLC polls. TDP’s strength was reduced to 19 MLAs. So, usually, anyone would have avoided the contest in the MLA quota MLC poll. But Naidu chalked out a plan. Naidu roped in dissent YCP MLAs Anam Ramanarayan Reddy and Kotamreddy Sreedhar Reddy on board. Along with these, Naidu got 2 other rebel YCP MLAs to vote for TDP’s MLC candidate Anuradha Panchumarthi. Thus, TDP secured 23 votes in the MLC poll.

Naidu’s strategy worked out well in the graduate MLC polls as well as MLA quota MLC polls. This victory in MLC polls gave a big boost to the TDP cadre ahead of the 2024 general election.