Naidu stirring hornet’s nest

Palnadu region in Andhra Pradesh has a long history of faction feuds, and from time to time, the simmering group rivalries turn violent. The recent exodus of families owing allegiance to the TDP from a few villages allegedly due to threats from the YSR Congress has to be seen in this perspective as it is a vicious cycle that keeps repeating.

Following the 2014 elections, it is a fact that quite a few local YSR Congress leaders were killed. It appears that in the wake of the Assembly elections earlier this year, it is the TDP activists who are at the receiving end. To be fair, no large-scale violence has broken out since the election results but the tension in the region has been mounting day by day.

Objectively speaking, not all of these faction feuds are necessarily political in nature. For instance, in Atmakur village, the destination of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday, some victims have admitted that they are under attack from their own relatives. The ideal solution under the circumstances is to instil confidence among the people and keep politics at bay.

The police have been conducting counselling sessions and taking measures to maintain law and order. It was in this background that Naidu gave a clarion call to his followers to march en masse to the village, ostensibly to create a conducive atmosphere for the return of the affected villagers. The outcome of his protest, had he had his way, would have been exactly the opposite of its avowed purpose.

Given his experience, he surely knows that and yet, he sought to press ahead, perhaps, to galvanise his party and divert attention from the skeletons tumbling out of his party’s cupboard—one of the TDP leaders from the region faces a CBI probe in an illegal mining case, another is in the dock for shifting the Assembly furniture to his home and the many shenanigans of his son and daughter. Several TDP leaders from Palnadu itself stayed away from the protest. The writing is on the wall for Naidu. He needs to find a better way than stirring a hornet’s nest to make himself relevant again.