YSR vs Babu: Who's worrying whom

Yes, it all depends on which side of the fence one is in. But leading Telugu daily Eenadu believes that Telugu Desam supremo and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is causing troubles to Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy and the Congress through the TD's pre-poll populist schemes. The TD schemes have become a worrying factor for the Congress government, it screams.

The actual scenario is that both the Congress and the Telugu Desam are worried about the outcome of the May 2009 Assembly elections. These polls are going to be crucial. For the Telugu Desam, a defeat in the May 2009 polls means a long wait to try luck for power in May 2014 elections. By then there may be many changes in the Telugu Desam, which is virtually depending on the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu. There's no alternative leadership in the Telugu Desam. TD leaders may not wait for that long without power so there's chances of the party being affected badly through largescale exodus of senior leaders.

And for the Congress, a defeat in the polls means that its populist schemes and irrigation projects have failed to yield results. The general trend in the country is that people are giving second chance to political parties. So a party ruling for 10 consecutive years has become a sort of norm in the country of late. If Congress loses, it simply means that it has failed to govern well and people have not given it a second chance, though it has become a norm.

In reality both YSR and NCB are a worried lot. But trumpet blowers see otherwise and blow their trumpets in favour of their respective leaders.