Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has ordered that TDP rebels contesting against official NDA candidates in the local body elections be suspended from the party immediately. He discussed the political situation with ministers after Thursday's Cabinet meeting.
What the CM said
- Candidates finalised jointly by the TDP, Jana Sena and BJP are final. Seat-sharing was settled by Naidu, Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan and BJP state president Madhav.
- "There can be no compromise on alliance discipline," he said, according to The South First.
- Ministers will be held responsible for alliance wins, in their own constituencies and in the districts they are in charge of.
- Disputes must be settled immediately; there will be no leniency later.
- He asked voters to back the alliance rather than individual candidates.
BigTV reported that ministers told the CM about rebels in corporation, municipal and ZPTC seats. No report gives the number of rebels. Pawan Kalyan said the joint press meet on alliance unity got a good response from people and cadre.
What comes next
Naidu said the current urban and parishad polls will be followed by panchayat elections and then cooperative society elections. Polling for 100 urban local bodies (13 corporations and 87 municipalities and nagar panchayats) is on November 1, with counting on November 3. MPTC and ZPTC polling is on November 5.
No YSRCP response to the order had been reported at the time of writing.
