What did Chandrababu Naidu and his team achieve through its two-day tour of Delhi? There is a divided talk within the party of the very purpose of the visit. One section feels that the visit was pointless, but another section feels that the visit served the purpose by highlighting the issue to a larger audience.

Though Chandrababu failed to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he managed to secure an audience with the President of the country. He highlighted the issue of lawlessness in AP and the issue of ruling party-sponsored attack on the opposition. He has managed to establish the vicious role that the YSRCP leadership had played. Also, he managed to highlight the issue of drug menace.

During the two days he stayed in Delhi, Chandrababu addressed the press and also gave personal one-to-one interviews to all the media houses. He could have done the same thing while being in either Hyderabad or Vijayawada. But, he chose Delhi to get media attention. The media houses gave disproportionate coverage to Chandrababu. The ruling YSRCP did not have an immediate counter to this media blitzkrieg.

But some people within the TDP felt that the whole issue was being seen as an ego clash between two leaders. They feel that Chandrababu should also have highlighted issues like special status, Amaravati and Polavaram during his meeting with the President of the country. That would have given more credence to the party and would have given an impression that this was not a personal ego clash but a fight for state’s interest.