Tried My Best To Connect Telangana And AP

At 68, Nara Chandrababu Naidu displays what he is made of. Despite temper-atures touching 40°C in some regions, the president of the Telugu Desam Party campaigns for 12 hours straight across the state. Though far younger leaders are fainting because of dehydration and cancelling programmes to avoid the heat, Naidu has only upped his game with his aggressive speeches. "I do not have much choice, do I? I am a very positive person and mentally strong, too," he said. "I feel like a responsible village elder who has to protect and provide shelter to his entire village."

On the day of this interview, Naidu had cancelled his morning programmes and staged a sit-in protest for an hour in Amaravati, alleging that the Centre was targetting TDP leaders with income tax raids. He then flew to Kurnool to address back-to-back public meetings. On the flight from Kurnool to Visakhapatnam that evening, he spoke to THE WEEK about his party’s prospects, allegations against him and the future of the Mahagathbandhan.

- Rahul Devulapalli

How do you rate your party's chances this time?

We are definitely winning the elections. I have been in politics for 37 years and I have seen many elections. When you perform well, people will have a positive feeling. Despite many hurdles in the last four and a half years, we could perform well. Whatever was due was not given to us and we used our resources to the maximum. We have introduced welfare programmes like old-age pensions, which is better than what is being offered in Telangana. Wherever there was an issue, I addressed it because of which the delivery of services is very simple. There is no corruption anywhere and a feel-good factor is prevailing in the state.

You say Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is insulting the people of Andhra Pradesh. Are you suddenly discussing Andhra pride because the elections are around the corner?