Gujarat violence major factor for poll drubbing, say TDP leaders

Smarting under the electoral drubbing, the TDP-BJP alliance in Andhra Pradesh appeared heading for a break-up with a majority of TDP leaders calling for severing ties with the saffron party citing Gujarat violence as one of the main factors that led to the combine's defeat in the recent polls.

As the TDP leadership got into self-introspection mode at its two-day annual general body meeting 'Mahanadu', which concluded here on Friday, a majority of the speakers attributed the party's electoral reverses to its alliance with the BJP and felt that minorities had moved away from the party after Gujarat violence.

"A majority of partymen who spoke at the Mahanadu opined that Gujarat incidents had adversely affected our poll prospects. We have asked the party leadership to review our ties with the BJP," party general secretary, C Ramachandraiah told reporters.

Setting the tone for soul-searching, the party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu admitted, for the first time in public, that Gujarat riots had left a deep impact on minorities and could have contributed to his party's poor showing at the hustings.

"We need to make an in-depth analysis of what went wrong and where we have failed. Despite doing our best in ensuring all-round development, we lost the elections," Naidu told the party gathering comprising over 6,000 delegates.

The Mahanadu meeting passed a resolution authorising Naidu to re-organise the party's stat executive and polit buro and take appropriate measures to revamp the organisation.