The decision of the Telugu Desam Party to go it alone in Telangana in the ensuing Assembly elections, due towards the year-end, has raised many an eyebrow.
TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu is said to have asserted in an informal chat in New Delhi recently that his party is against entering into alliances in Telangana and had decided to put up candidates in a major chunk of constituencies where it has presence. This has naturally led to speculation among the major political parties about the impact of the decision on their prospects in the ensuing elections.
Their worry apparently is not about the Telangana TDP winning any seats, but more about the dent it would cause in their respective vote banks. The TDP, according to data available with the Election Commission of India, has secured 3.51 per cent of votes in the 2018 Assembly elections. Its vote percentage in the little over dozen constituencies it contested in alliance with the Congress was 30.25 per cent and it came at a time when there was a BRS (then TRS) wave in the State that helped the TRS secure 88 of the 119 Assembly seats.
