It is quite natural that certain people indulge in sycophancy to get into the good books of the powers-that-be so that they can seek some benefits from the ruling party.

But there is always a limit to such sycophancy. If the people cross their limits and go out of the way to pamper the leaders in power, it would only show their nature and culture in poor light.

There is no dearth of such sycophants in the ruling Telugu Desam Party. Several leaders go head over heels to please party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, ostensibly to seek favours from his government.

Not that Naidu does not know their tricks, but he naturally enjoys such pampering to satisfy his ego.

Take for example, the Telugu Desam Party leaders of Krishna district.

They have recently named a residential colony at Komaravolu village of Pamarru mandal in the district as Nara Devansh Colony, after Naidu’s three-year old grandson Nara Devansh, apparently realizing that the TDP chief will do anything for the sake of the kid.

Devansh, only son of Naidu’s only son and IT minister Nara Lokesh, has been a regular appearance in the party and government activities now and then, as Naidu makes it a point to bring him along with him, whether it is Polavaram gallery walk or Dharma Porata Deeksha.

Realising Naidu’s love for Devansh, the TDP leaders are going all out to appease the kid and his grandfather.

In almost all the party posters, one can notice the picture of Devansh. Even at the last year’s Maha Nadu, the TDP biennial conclave, posters and cut-outs of Devansh were star attraction.

Now, when the Naidu government constructed a weaker sections’ colony at Komaravolu village, the local TDP leaders named it as Nara Devansh Colony to display their sycophancy, though Devansh has nothing to do with the colony.

And for the sake of record, Komaravolu is the native of Naidu’s mother-in-law and NTR’s wife Nandamuri Basava Tarakam!

With elections to Andhra Pradesh assembly less than three months way, it is time for reverse migration of Telugu Desam Party legislators into the YSR Congress party, which fancies more chances of coming to power.Last week, it was TDP MLA from Rajampet Meda Mallikharjun Reddy, who defected to the YSR Congress party along with his brother and several followers.

Meda, who was the government whip in the state assembly, had apparently sensed that the TDP had little chances of retaining power for a second term and that all is not well with the party in Kadapa district.

According to the latest reports, another TDP MLA from Chirala Amanchi Krishna Mohan is going to join the YSRC.Most likely, he may meet YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in Hyderabad and formally join the YSRC on Wednesday.

In fact, there had been reports in the past that Amanchi, who was elected as an independent and later defected to the TDP, was planning to join Jana Sea Party as there was no concrete assurance from TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu about getting the party ticket in 2019. Senior TDP leader Palaparthy David is said to be in the race for the TDP ticket.

However, Amanchi reportedly contacted YSRC after he came to know that there was no place for him in Jana Sena also.He met the members of Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) promoted by political strategist Prashant Kishor and sent feelers to the party high command.

Finally, Jagan is learnt to have given the green signal to Amanchi’s entry as his surveys showed that the MLA had his own strength in the constituency and a lot of popularity. So, he is most likely to make an entry into YSRC in a day or two.Weakening the ruling Telugu Desam Party is one of the many strategies the YSRC is adopting to win the elections.

The party is said to be identifying potential leaders in the TDP and lure them into the YSRC at crucial juncture. These are the leaders who have bleak chances of getting the TDP ticket in the next elections.

After Nandamuri family bigwigs joined the YSRCP, it looks like kin of YSR Congress leaders may cross-over to the yellow party. Grapevine has it that YSRCP MP Vijay Sai Reddy’s brother-in-law Dwarakanath is seriously considering joining the Telugu Desam Party.

The reason for his plans to join the TDP are apparently his differenced with party leader G. Srikanth Reddy and his camp. A miffed Dwarakanath is said to have been in talks with the Telugu Desam Party leaders and is considering joining the party.

Looks like the elections season is full of surprises with friends becoming foes and foes turning friends.

The Congress is set to lose another political heavyweight in former Union Minister Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy after the Congress has decided not to ally with the TDP in Andhra Pradesh. A miffed Suryaprakash Reddy had rushed to Amaravati to meet TDP Chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and express his interest in joining the party.

Apparently, Suryaprakash Reddy will be given ticket for Kurnool Parliamentary seat from the TDP. If rumours are to be believed, the Congress party has been ignoring Suryaprakash Reddy’s advice for a while and it went against his suggestion of allying with the TDP wasn’t paid heed to. It is said that Kotla has also asked Chandrababu for three tickets to his followers.

Now, as the Kotla family leaves its home turf to join TDP, it is to be seen how K.E. Krishnamurthy and Kotla family, who have fought against each other, will adapt to survive in the same party. Apparently, Kotla has asked for Dhone Assembly seat which is believed to belong to K.E.’s camp. Kurnool TDP cadre believe that this could lead to a dispute between both of them again.

With Kurnool Lok Sabha seat going to Kotla family, it remains to be seen about what Butta Renuka gets from the party. According to party sources, Kotla’s entry into TDP could turn the tide in the Kurnool district in favour of TDP, with YSRCP being a strong contender.

Ever since the news about Daggubati family joining YSR Congress Party came out, the social media has been heavily debating, trolling and discussing on it. While some netizens welcomed their decision, some others are finding fault in it. Reacting on this matter, the daughter of NTR and BJP leader Daggubati Purandeshwari has condemned the criticism against her family.

Purandeshwari went on to release a statement wherein she said “few people are politicizing this matter on social media for their self-benefits.” On other hand, the former union minister of state rubbished the rumors about on her and affirmed that she’ll stay with BJP though her son Hithesh Chenchuram and husband Venkateshwara Rao joined YSR Congress Party.

And here are few excerpts from her statement: “Do they know the fact that I lost two children? One before my daughter and one before my son. And do they know that my late father Sri NTR had forcefully sent me to United States for the special treatment? In this episode, I have got nothing to respond to those who target me personally. Do they know that Telugu Desham Party rejected Daggubati Venkateswara Rao when we decided to re-enter into politics? Do they know about TDP’s conspiracy to make sure that I won’t get BJP ticket in 2014 polls? I love my family regardless of the politics. And I have no track record of criticising someone personally. So, I request everyone to deal with personal matters sensitively and not attack my children and family personally.”

The Congress party has accused Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of trying to bring about a patch-up between YSR Congress party and Jana Sena Party for his selfish politics.

Congress party’s star campaigner and former MP Vijayashanti said the main objective of brokering the deal between YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan only to thwart the attempts of TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to form a grand alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“If the Congress-led alliance is formed, it will stall KCR’s attempts to form a federal front. Therefore, he is trying to see that YSRC and Jana Sena join hands to defeat the TDP so that the anti-BJP front plans do not succeed,” she said.

Vijayashanti, however, said Pawan Kalyan who has been clear on his stance might not fall into KCR trap, as the former was already aware of the tricks played by the TRS in the past.

“TRS is trying to pull Pawan Kalyan into controversy who is maintaining equal distance from all major political parties in Andhra Pradesh,” she said and recalled the statements of the TDP leaders that there was nothing wrong in Pawan Kalyan and Chandrababu Naidu coming together like Mayavati and Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh.

Soon after TRS sweeping Assembly polls in Telangana on December 11, 2018, TRS president and Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao warned TDP president and AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu that he will give ‘return’ gift to Naidu for giving him a ‘gift’ in Telangana by forging Mahakutami with TDP and Congress to defeat TRS in Assembly polls.

For KCR, the ‘return gift’ to Naidu meant working for the defeat of TDP in AP Assembly polls.KCR’s warning seem to have created a lot of impact on Naidu, who is now going to any extent to counter KCR’s ‘return gift’.

As part of this Naidu started “pasupu kunkuma” scheme two days ago under which he announced to credit Rs 10,000 in the bank accounts of each of the 93 lakh DWCRA women members in AP. He also promised to give one smart phone free to each of these women members.

The total budget for this scheme has been estimated at a whooping Rs 10,000 crore.

While launching the scheme Naidu reminded DWCRA members of KCR’s return gift and requested them to give a ‘fitting gift’ to KCR , who is trying to defeat TDP, which has been giving Rs 1,000 cash and a smart phone to DWCRA members.

Naidu’s comments clearly proved that he was spending Rs 10,000 crore only to seek protection from KCR’s return gift.Naidu has been coming out with several sops every day since then with an aim to counter KCR’s return gift.Looks like, KCR’s return gift has been proving costly for AP government coffers.

YSRCP’s ‘Ninnu Nammam Babu’ (We don’t trust you, Babu) campaign to highlight the failures of TDP government in Andhra Pradesh led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for the past five years turned out to be a stunning success across AP.

This was revealed by AP government’s Intelligence department, which submitted a report to CM Naidu.

The Intelligence officials were asked to survey whether the cash sops announced by Naidu created huge impact on voters or Jagan’s Ninnu Nammam Babu campaign had huge impact on voters.

Both the programmes were conducted in AP at the same time. However, the Intelligence reports found that Jagan’s campaign has outsmarted Naidu’s cash sops.

The Ninnu Nammam Babu hoardings, banners, stickers were seen all over AP for five days right from village level to city level. Vehicles bearing the stickers of Ninnu Nammam Babu were the cynosure of all eyes.

This campaign took up by YSRCP for five days covering all the 175 Assembly constituencies in AP early this month caught the attention of all sections.

As usual, Babu is now looking to launch an effective campaign to counter Jagan’s Ninnu Nammam Babu.

And as usual he is looking at Tollywood film directors and writers to come up with a ‘catchy slogan’ to outwit Jagan’s campaign.

Naidu is learnt to have instructed film directors and writers to come out with catchy and crisp slogans on Jagan’s corruption during YSR regime, Jagan’s jail life, Jagan’s illegal assets case etc.

Naidu is planning to launch a huge publicity campaign against Jagan in February after finalising the new catchy slogans.