Prepoll Surveys Give Sleepless Nights to TDP’s Narayana

Former minister Ponguru Narayana, the TDP candidate in Nellore, is facing an uphill battle in his election campaign. His efforts to connect with the public are going in vain, and party supporters have conveyed their frustrations to the leadership about Narayana's apparent frustration with them.

During a recent campaign event, an irritated Narayana berated a party member standing with him, calling the person "useless fellow" and ordering him to get off the vehicle. Feeling humiliated, the party leader has stopped attending campaign events. Narayana's impatience is attributed to the stronger public response to the ruling YSRC Congress party's campaign.

The constituents of Nellore City constituency are angry with Narayana for he did not pay attention to local concerns when he was in power. There are criticisms that the prior TDP administration's five-year term was tarnished by corruption and scams.

Notably, Narayana was named as an accused by the AP-CID in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road case. Charges were also filed against him in a Rs 4,400-crore land assignment scam related to Amaravati's development as the state capital.

TDP’s supporters are also not happy because Narayana hired 500 people for his "N team" to campaign door-to-door. The opposition party’s rank-and-file have complained that their role is limited as some candidates are running their campaigns in a corporate style without their involvement. Despite unlimited spending on the N team, people are not attending Narayana's rallies in large numbers. The pre-poll surveys have also indicated that Narayana has less chance of winning the Nellore seat even after spending crores on campaigning. 

Also Read: YSRCP’s 2024 Election Manifesto Highlights