VIJAYAWADA: All eyes will be on Kuppam when it, along with 11 other municipalities and Nellore Municipal Corporation, goes to the polls on November 15.While TDP will be trying for a majority — and boost the morale of party cadre — in its national president N Chandrababu Naidu’s home turf, the YSRC will be vying for extending its success run in Kuppam. The YSRC had bagged most of MPTC/ZPTC seats in the recently held local body elections.
The TDP has been leaving no stones unturned to retain its clout and win the Kuppam municipality polls. A win would boost the morale of its cadres before the general elections.The ruling YSRC, meanwhile, has been all out to breach Naidu’s hold over Kuppam. Buoyed by its success in winning a majority of sarpanches, MPTCs and ZPTCs in the Kuppam Assembly constituency, the YSRC leaders have now shifted their focus to wrest the Kuppam municipality to send a message that Naidu has lost credibility in both urban and rural areas of the constituency he has been representing in the State Assembly.
TDP leaders, meanwhile, have learnt a lesson from the rural local body elections and were trying to insulate cadres from falling prey to the allurements and pressures by the ruling party. They argued that the two-day visit of Naidu to Kuppam boosted the morale of the party cadre as people in large numbers turned up for his road shows and public meetings. Indications pointed at Naidu’s continuing credibility among Kuppam voters. However, a senior TDP leader, while speaking to TNIE, held local leaders responsible for the party’s debacle in the rural local bodies.
As Naidu was busy with State politics, he handed over the responsibilities of party affairs to local leaders. But some of them were not serious in the party activities, resulting in a gap between the leaders and the cadre.“There is still a strong cadre base for the TDP in Kuppam. But the failure on part of local leaders in giving confidence to the cadre came as a blow to the party in the rural local body elections. The party can bounce back if that gap between the cadre and the leaders is bridged and confidence is instilled among the party activists,’’ the TDP leader observed.