With the Telugu Desam Party led by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu indulging in large scale propaganda stating that the YSR Congress party has a secret pact with the Bharatiya Janata Party, both the opposition parties have been trying to put up a strong defence.While the YSR Congress party has already announced that it would go it alone in the next elections, the BJP on Monday also clarified that there would be no understanding between it and the YSRC in the next elections.

“There is no truth in the reports that the BJP has a secret understanding with the YSRC and also Jana Sena Party. The BJP will contest the next elections in Andhra Pradesh alone without any pact with other parties,” BJP senior leader and former Union minister Daggubati Purandeshwari told media in Vijayawada.

Interestingly, the TDP is virtually playing the role of an opposition party in Andhra Pradesh which it is ruling.Naidu is trying to shift the entire blame of lack of development in the state to the BJP-led centre. Thus, he has virtually wiped out the BJP base in the state. But since the YSRC is his strong opponent, Naidu is trying to gain political mileage by indulging in a propaganda that the BJP has a pact with the YSRC.

The reason being shown by Naidu to project a pact between the two parties is that the BJP is not criticising the YSRC and vice versa. But the simple logic is that an opposition party criticises the ruling party and not the other opposition party. So, there is no meaning in the TDP criticism.

But unfortunately, the BJP and YSRC have not been able to convey it to the people very strongly.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s son and state IT minister Nara Lokesh has been often a subject of criticism and ridicule by the Opposition parties.More than for his inexperience in administration, Lokesh has become the target for his political rivals for his alleged corruption and above all, his lack of articulation skills in public.

The moment Lokesh fumbles in his speech or makes a slip-of-the-tongue comment, he gets trolling in the social media within no time.And the nickname he has got from critics is “Pappu,” a word which is also used for Congress president Rahul Gandhi.While his father Chandrababu Naidu is heckled as Nippu Naidu (because he calls himself a fireball), Lokesh is called “Pappu Naidu.”

Lokesh knows he has become a subject of heckling by his rivals. But he is taking them easy.“It is all part of politics. As far as I know, I have not done anything wrong. So, I am least bothered about the comments made by the rivals,” he said, in an interview to an English daily.On the charges of corruption against him, Lokesh challenged the opponents to produce one order which he had signed in favour of any contractor or a company in the last two years.

“All GOs and all company financials are in public domain. Let them show one GO showing that I had favoured a particular company that would get me money,” he said.He clarified that the only criticism that he had got was favouring Franklin Templeton (FT) to set up its office in Visakhapatnam.“It is a Fortune 500 company. As per the GIC policy, that is the first company that applied. If I don’t let it come, who is going to come?” he asked.

“Let them criticise me more and more. I am enjoying it. Tomorrow, I will stand in front of FT board and tell them. I have not done anything wrong. All these years, they criticised me saying am inefficient and incapable. Now, they criticise me for attracting companies. It is hilarious,” he said.

If the assembly elections are conducted now in Andhra Pradesh, the YSR Congress party has fair chances of coming to power, as all winds are blowing in favour of YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.This was the opinion expressed by former Rajahmundry MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar on Monday.His views are completely different from the survey conducted by Andhra Jyothy daily and flash team of former MP Lagadapati Rajagopal which stated that the TDP would retain power again by winning 110 out of 175 assembly seats.

Vundavalli said there was a clear wave in favour of Jagan as was evident from the massive response he has been getting from the people.The present political situation also was in favour of Jagan. But he has a word of caution as well.“Don’t underestimate Chandrababu Naidu. He has the capability to turn the tide and wave in his favour by the time elections are held,” he said.

While acknowledging that Jagan was getting good response from the people, Vundavalli said the YSRC did not have a proper team for election management. This is Jagan’s weakness and TDP’s strength, he opined.On power star and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, the former MP said it was too early to judge the impact of Jana Sena.“We cannot assess the strength of Pawan Kalayn with a few meetings. He has just entered into full-time politics. Let us wait and see how far he will be able to sustain,” he said.

Vundavalli said he would continue in active politics. But at the same time, he would not join any political party.“I have very good friends both in the TDP as well as YSRC. But I will not join either party,” he said.

It has been more than a week since power star and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan took a break from his Praja Porata Yatra tour in north coastal Andhra.On June 10, Pawan suddenly announced that he was taking a break from the tour till Ramzan festival.

“Since there are many Muslim brothers in Pawan’s personal staff, he is taking a break till the Ramzan festival. The tour will resume after the festival as usual,” a press release from Jana Sena Party office said then.Already two days passed since Ramzan festival was celebrated across the country. But till now, there is no word yet from his office as to when the Praja Porata Yatra will resume. Even his office staff do not seem to have any clarity.

Pawan, who toured Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and parts of Visakhapatnam district so far, created a big impression that he is going to be a force to reckon with the 2019 elections.There were huge crowds for his meetings and he was very aggressive in his attack against the Telugu Desam Party government in the state led by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.During his tour, he declared that his party would contest in all the 175 seats in Andhra Pradesh in the next elections and expressed his intentions to become the chief minister of the state.

But, Pawan seems to be mentally and physically not well prepared yet to take up full time politics.

He has already taken two breaks in the past – one in the name of giving rest to his private security who were injured in a scuffle in Srikakulam. Second time, he took a break in the name of 24-hour deeksha for the sake of kidney patients. Now, he has taken another break for more than 8 days in the name of Ramzan.

He seems to be lacking clear planning for the tour. Otherwise, doesn’t he know that there would be Ramzan festival in June?Why didn’t he announce his tour schedule well in advance, as is being done by YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy? How can he become a leader without even having proper planning?It remains to be seen whether Pawan will resume his yatra with a bang once again or tones it down gradually.

On Father’s Day, Nara Lokesh put up a post on Twitter that brought tears to the eyes of TDP cadre.“Be better today than you were yesterday and be better tomorrow than you are today. Thank you Dad @ncbn for such lessons for life. And thank you for inspiring me to aim high and work towards it. Happy Father’s Day!,” said Lokesh.

This is really heartwarming from Lokesh. But did he get the main point, what his father was trying to say?Chandrababu Naidu was probably referring to Lokesh’s public speeches that have earned him the notorious nickname of ‘Andhra Pappu’.

Hopefully, Lokesh is working on his dad’s advice provided he has understood it in the first place.

Ganta Srinivasa Rao is a very special politician. He does not have any inhibitions in changing from one party to the other as long as it suits his personal interests.Currently in the TDP and enjoying the privilege off Ministership, Ganta has realised that TDP is facing an all-time high anti-incumbency and will not come to power in 2019. Therefore, he has initiated talks with his Kapu party Janasena and YSRCP.

When Vijay Sai Reddy said that Ganta was in talks with the YSRCP, everyone assumed that it was just a psychological ploy by the YSRCP to unsettle the ruling party. But apparently, there is indeed something going on behind the scenes.Andhra Jyothy has come out with a survey on MLAs performance and naturally, the findings declared that people were overjoyed with the performance of the TDP MLAs except for a few.

One of the names in the list of bad performing MLAs was that of Ganta Srinivasa Rao.

The fact that Vemuri Radhakrishna choose to target a ruling party Minister directly in the name of a survey is an indication of the fact that all is not well in the TDP. Without instructions from Lokesh or Naidu, he would not take such a step.Tomorrow, the TDP can use the pretext of this survey finding to deny him and other MLAs and their followers, tickets or other posts and privileges.

What is Ganta’s response going to be? YSRCP or Jana Sena? Either party will welcome him because at the end of the day, all that political parties need are winning horses, ethics be damned!

Chandrababu Naidu, who is locking horns with Narendra Modi on non-fulfillment of the Centre’s promises to Andhra Pradesh, received unexpected praises from his detractor Modi alone. Naidu was stunned when Modi praised him during the NITI Aayog’s fourth Governing Council meet held in Delhi.

In a meeting presided by PM Modi himself and saw the attendance of the CMs of states, Lieutenant Governors, Union Ministers, Modi praised Chandrababu’s contribution to the power industry. He appreciated Naidu’s efforts in improving the services of electricity.

Naidu stood out special in the meeting. He suggested that the Employment Guarantee Act/Scheme (MGNREGA) should be linked with the agriculture sector. This advice of Chandrababu got the backing of several Chief Ministers. With this, Modi has decided to constitute a special committee with Chief Ministers of the states.

Naidu protested against the Terms of Reference (ToR) to the 15th Finance Commission. He said the reference in the Finance Commission to adopt 2011 census population instead of 1971 data would have far reaching adverse consequences for the democratic and federal setup of the country. He expressed apprehension that it would penalise the performing states which have successfully controlled the population.

Chandrababu Naidu’s demand for the Special Category Status got the support from Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Narayana Swamy. While Chandrababu attacked Modi directly and raised the concerns, issues related to Andhra Pradesh openly, Modi tried to lighten up Naidu by praising him.