How did Eatala win in Huzurabad? He won because he raised the issue of self-respect against KCR. He was seen as a challenger to an autocratic KCR. The voters took the bait and voted for Eatala in a big way. In Huzurabad, it was a fight between a David and a mighty Goliath. But will the same self-respect formula work in Kuppam municipal elections?
TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh Babu is raising the self-respect issue in Kuppam. While campaigning in the nook and corner of Kuppam town, he is trying to project the electoral battle as a fight between self-respect and the autocracy of YS Jagan. But, will the voters fall for this in Kuppam? Will they see this as a battle between David and Goliath?
Chandrababu has been Kuppam MLA for eight times and is the sitting MLA. For decades, the constituency remained his fiefdom. Lokesh was the incharge for Kuppam constituency. As the incharge, he was accused of not being accessible to the party workers and cadres. So, the YSRCP would be seen as someone challenging the hegemony of the Nara family. Given all this, will Lokesh Babu’s self-respect slogan work?
Also, since the bifurcation of the state, the politics of Telangana and Andhra have irreversibly changed. What works in Telangana may not work in Andhra Pradesh. Many observers feel that the self respect slogan may be counter-productive for the TDP. Is Lokesh Babu listerning?
