TD pins hopes on third front

Hyderabad Dec. 8: The Telugu Desam president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, put on a brave face and said that the poll results in the five states indicated the need for a third front. In reality, the poll results have shocked the TD and other opposition parties who had misread the impact of the Mumbai terror attacks. Though rattled, Mr Naidu continued to harp on his anti-Congress theme and said it would be wiped out in the next elections.

“People did not give a clear mandate to any party,” he said. “The Congress is steeped in corruption and people rejected it. The BJP suffered for trying to play communal card. A third front would have gained in these elections.” Mr Naidu added that it would be facile to compare Rajasthan with Andhra Pradesh. “The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, is the most corrupt politician in the world,” he said.

The TD chief said the poll results indicated an anti-Congress and anti-BJP wave. When pointed out that the Congress won in Rajasthan and retained power in Delhi for the third time, the TD president ascribed the Rajasthan outcome to the Gujjar issue. He also pointed out that the BSP had done fairly well in the polls. The TD Parliamentary Party leader, Mr Yerrannaidu, echoed his leader’s sentiments and said that the poll results were against the Congress-led UPA.

“People have lost confidence in both the Congress and the BJP and a third front would emerge as an alternative,” he said. However, TD leaders said in private that voters had rejected the view that Congress alone was to be blamed for the terror attacks. “Everyone thought BJP would sweep the polls in the wake of Mumbai attack but the results are astounding,” a senior TD leader said.