Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is going through the toughest period of his political career.
Naidu had seen several ups and downs in his four decades-long political life and whenever the party lost the elections, he did not get disheartened and bounced back. Of course, he made the best use of opportunities that came in his way and capitalised on the situations to return to power.
But in the past, Naidu had the solid backing of some leaders who stood by him in turning the things in his favour.
For example, when the TDP lost power in 2004 assembly elections and won just 45 seats in the 294-member state assembly (which is as worse as getting 23 seats in 175-member assembly now), Naidu had the backing of leaders like Sujana Chowdary and C M Ramesh.
With their money power, both the leaders ensured that the party remained in tact and not many leaders deserted the party.
And by 2009, the TDP bounced back and got 92 assembly seats, though it could not come to power. In fact, there were reports that the TDP would have come to power, had Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam did not split the anti-establishment vote.
Now, the situation is completely different in the TDP.
After the party lost the elections miserably to YSR Congress party, those leaders who were strongly backing Naidu are nowhere to be seen. Whether they have gone on their own or Naidu had sent them, Sujana and Ramesh had defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
As a result, Naidu has lost his firefighters who are capable of negotiating with disgruntled leaders and prevailing upon them to stay back in the party. And the TDP chief has remained helpless, when one leader after the other has started quitting the party to join the YSR Congress.
Adding to this, the TDP has also lost its main funding sources which Sujana and Ramesh were capable of mobilising.
It remains to be seen how Naidu would overcome this tough situation in the coming days.