Naidu asks TDP cadre to gear up for local body polls

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday directed the TDP machinery to gear up for the upcoming local body elections and aim for a better strike rate than in the 2024 Assembly polls, while stressing coordination among NDA partners.

Naidu held a meeting with ministers and zonal observers to discuss the party’s strategy for the local body elections, according to a press release issued late on Thursday.

He said the local body elections would provide an opportunity to assess the party’s current position compared to the 2024 polls would face local elections as part of an alliance.

“There should be no gap between the alliance parties under any circumstances. We should work in coordination with the NDA parties and take appropriate decisions depending on local conditions,” said the TDP supremo.

He called for greater coordination within the party by combining the experience of senior members with the energy of new members.

The party should approach the elections with a positive agenda to win public support, he said.

From the village level to the state level, party workers should go door-to-door and explain the development and welfare programmes undertaken by the alliance government, he said.

Naidu said there was a “positive sentiment” among people towards the government’s work and the party should build on it.

He said candidates should be selected through a social re-engineering approach, based on the approval of people and party workers as well as their performance. Youth and women would be given priority in candidate selection, he said.

Naidu reiterated that the government would provide 34 per cent reservation for backward classes in the local body elections and would not reduce it under any circumstances. If necessary, more than 34 per cent of seats would be reserved, he added.

The dates for the local body elections have not been announced yet.

Naidu directed party leaders to explain at Jaiho BC meetings the alleged injustice done to backward classes by the YSRCP.

The programme aims to highlight the alleged injustices faced by Backward Classes members during the YSRCP regime.

Despite financial difficulties, the alliance government was undertaking welfare and development programmes and implementing schemes on a scale that would create a record, he said.

Naidu asked party workers to keep a continuous watch on the YSRCP’s political strategies and what he described as its conspiracies, and to counter what he called “fake propaganda”.

He alleged that the opposition party had approached the court seeking that elections not be conducted without completion of the SIR process, claiming that it intended to prevent the polls from being held.

The YSRCP was “hatching conspiracies” to prevent funds from coming to the state, Naidu alleged.

He said a Leadership Training Conclave would be organised at the party office on September 7 and 8.