{"id":355948,"date":"2025-08-25T08:55:35","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T03:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=355948"},"modified":"2025-08-25T10:35:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T05:05:43","slug":"vice-president-south-vs-south-southern-parties-reject-symbolic-gestures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/vice-president-south-vs-south-southern-parties-reject-symbolic-gestures\/","title":{"rendered":"Vice President south vs south: Southern parties reject symbolic gestures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Stalin says \u2018wearing Tamil Mask to seek votes old trick\u2019, Chandrababu says \u2018Telugu pride irrelevant in this context\u2019; Basically, Naidu sees no gain in supporting a candidate from the INDIA bloc when the NDA clearly has the numbers while Stalin is not impressed by the BJP pitching a Tamil face when he is dealing with broader actions seen as anti-Tamil like \u201cover Hindi imposition, NEET, federal issues etc.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NDIA Bloc\u2019s attempt to create bring together prominent South regional parties, especially from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, to rally behind its Vice-President candidate, retired judge Sudershan Reddy, is not working and so is the BJP-led NDA\u2019s pitch for DMK support for Tamil\u2019 nominee C P Radhakrishnan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu criticised the INDIA alliance for fielding a candidate for the Vice President post despite knowing the NDA candidate had a clear majority and rejected demands to support Reddy, saying \u201cTelugu pride was irrelevant in this context\u201d, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin also dismissed the BJP\u2019s attempt to pitch its nominee C P Radhakrishnan as a Tamil candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWearing a Tamil mask to seek vote is an old trick which will not work in Tamil Nadu,\u201d Stalin said in a meeting held to mobilise support for Sudershan Reddy in Chennai on Sunday. Reddy was in Chennai to meet DMK and allies and seek support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIndividuals are only images. It is ideology that guides politics. After doing everything against Tamil Nadu, BJP cannot expect support by projecting a Tamil face,\u201d Stalin was quoted as saying<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only as a DMK leader but also as a representative of the alliance, I can say Reddy is the most qualified for the Vice- President\u2019s post. When BJP is destroying Constitutional values, we need someone who defended them throughout his career,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chandrababu Naidu, in turn, accused the INDIA Bloc of \u201cdoing politics by fielding a candidate with no chances of winning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Delhi for a courtesy visit to NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan, Naidu rejected demands to support the INDIA Bloc candidate from Telugu states, saying that Telugu pride was irrelevant in this context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe question of Telugu Pride doesn\u2019t arise in this situation. TDP is part of NDA before the elections, and supporting another candidate doesn\u2019t arise<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re part of the NDA, and there are NDA governments in the state and at the Centre. Is it ethical to expect our support for a non-NDA candidate?\u201d he questioned, underlining his commitment to ethics and relations with the NDA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naidu said when PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister, TDP supported his candidature as an MP despite being anti-Congress. If there were winning chances, it would have been better to field a Telugu candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Southern parties reject symbolic gestures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basically, TDP\u2019s Naidu sees no gain in supporting a candidate from the INDIA bloc when the NDA clearly has the numbers while DMK\u2019s Stalin is not impressed by the BJP pitching a Tamil face like Radhakrishnan when he is dealing with broader actions seen as anti-Tamil like \u201cover Hindi imposition, NEET, federal issues etc.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTDP is a part of the NDA and breaking ranks for a symbolic vote would send mixed signals. Naidu is positioning himself as a pragmatic leader, not swayed by emotional calls for \u2018Telugu pride\u2019. For DMK, the BJP\u2019s centralising tendencies as a threat to state autonomy. Both are  playing a long game, not just reacting to the VP race but laying groundwork for state elections and 2029 general elections,\u201d say analysts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stalin says \u2018wearing Tamil Mask to seek votes old trick\u2019, Chandrababu says \u2018Telugu pride irrelevant in this context\u2019; Basically, Naidu sees no gain in supporting a candidate from the INDIA bloc when the NDA clearly has the numbers while Stalin is not impressed by the BJP pitching a Tamil face when he is dealing with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":355953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14958,36,1801],"tags":[18650,19397,19726,15597],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/187"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355948"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355955,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355948\/revisions\/355955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/355953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}