Kommineni Srinivasa Rao

By the looks of it, the Telugu Desam Party's (TDP) manifesto for Telangana Assembly elections appears to be in line with that of its fake promise of waiving farm loans. In a notable observation, party President Chandrababu Naidu, despite being absent for the announcement, is busy holding multiple meetings a day using public money.

Nevertheless, it is quite obvious as to why Chandrababu did not announce the manifesto himself when the TDP Telangana candidates had to meet him in Amaravati. The TDP followed the Congress with its promise of waiving Rs 2 lakh farm loans. In Andhra Pradesh, the TDP promised to waive all the farm loans before it came to power. But, four years into the TDP rule, it failed miserably in doing so.

Will the people of Telangana, which has a lesser budget than that of AP, believe in Chandrababu's promise? The TDP and Congress were quick to criticize the TRS after it had announced it was to disburse the promised Rs 1 lakh farm loans in four stages, at an expense of Rs 17,000 crore. It is unclear as to how the TDP would waive Rs 2 lakh loans by contesting in just three seats.

Going by the Congress alliance's partners, the TDP for sure will not be given the Chief Ministerial post. It appears that the TDP in Telangana is trying to protect its identity by contesting along with the Congress. From giving seats to its alliance partners, the TDP was reduced to sharing seats with others. It would have been better if the TDP had stayed out of contention or if it had fielded candidates in 119 constituencies.

With TDP's alliance with the Congress, Chandrababu proved that there is no space for self-respect in politics. Keeping in mind the unpredictable nature of politics, one should not take the TDP manifesto seriously. The election commission should have asked the TDP on the implementation of its promises like clearing DWCRA loans and one lakh jobs.

A daily commented that Chandrababu's promises could include bringing moon on to the earth. The TDP, however, might fail to garner support from the people. The people of Telangana ignored Rahul Gandhi's promise of Rs 2 lakh loan waiver in 2014. Will they believe in TDP now?

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