Mahanaidu, Or PRBy Other Means

A large Muslim votebank ensured the obligatory reiteration of the party’s politically correct position on Gujarat and weak demand for Narendra Modi’s removal. But the focus was on condemning the Congress for all the ills plaguing the state. All plans it might have had of distancing itself from the BJP post-Gujarat now seem subtly passed over, a sure sign that Naidu prefers to hunt with the hound.

The Mahanadu also afforded Naidu a platform to garner support for his ongoing reform process and thus gather more loans from international funding agencies. The state already has one of the highest debt burdens in the country and Naidu’s aggressive power reforms have been under constant attack from the Opposition. The TDP chief, however, used the occasion to deny the Opposition claims that the state was sinking into a debt trap and insisted that he would stay the course on his government’s economic and power reforms.

Naidu made one concession to a general criticism. He admitted that the reforms, especially in the power sector, were causing problems to weavers and farmers and consequently promised to address them.