Hyderabad:
For Chandrababu Naidu, Chiranjeevi is not a hero but a villain. Naidu says the Prajarajyam spoilt the party for the Telugu Desam by splitting the anti-incumbency vote and getting a 15 per cent vote share.
The TDP president has said new parties like the PRP are responsible for Y S Rajasekhara Reddy being in the chief minister's chair. He was speaking at the TDP's two-day Mahanadu that began in Hyderabad on Wednesday to commemorate the birth anniversary of party founder N T Rama Rao on May 28.
Unlike the Left and the TRS, Chandrababu Naidu is not blaming his Grand Alliance partners for the defeat of the TDP in the recent elections. Instead Naidu says it is new parties like the Prajarajyam and Lok Satta that split the anti-incumbency vote and brought the Congress to the seat of power.
Naidu clarified that despite the grand alliance rout, the stance taken in its manifesto by the Telugu Desam on a separate Telangana would not change.
"There will be no change in our stand on Telangana. It is important for us to be credible," said Chandrababu Naidu.
Naidu said the TDP had missed becoming the ruling party by a whisker and it was the task of the leadership to keep the cadre enthused to face the local body elections that are coming up next.