Date:12/10/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/10/12/stories/2003101207090400.htm

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

`BJP prepared for early polls in State'

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD Oct. 11. The attack on Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, by the PW and its fall-out on State politics, including the possibility of the State Government going for early polls to cash in on the sympathy factor, figured prominently in the two-day "chintan baithak'' of the State BJP which concluded here on Friday.

The BJP viewed that the incident has cast its shadow on the political scenario in the State but tried to assess what kind of influence it would have, the party official spokesmen, S.V. Seshagiri Rao and K. Laxman, said at the media briefing on Saturday.

"If the elections were advanced in the State owing to the political consequences of the attack, how well was the party prepared to face them".

Not ruling out early polls, they also said the incident was also viewed from a wider angle. How will people react to the incident at the hustings and if the TDP was returned to power on the sympathy wave, hopefully set a rethink among naxalites who did not believe in democracy were also matters pondered, Mr. Rao said.

He had no doubt that the sympathy for Mr. Naidu was widespread. But, it was not thought fit to go into the fortunes of BJP owing to the situation, he added.