Andhra 'netas' plan a much-deserved break

Now that the rough and tumble of campaigning is over and polling completed, political leaders in Andhra Pradesh (AP) are taking much-needed time off before the next round of number crunching.

After the 2004 campaign, chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy had spent about a week with family in the cool climes of Ooty, which seemed to have done him much good given that he won the election with a thumping majority.

This time round, party insiders said, he is taking off for yet another hill station, Shimla, with his aspiring parliamentarian son YS Jaganmohan Reddy and family.

Another senior politician interested in tourist places in north India is none other than YSR’s 2004 ally Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K Chandrasekhara Rao (KCR).

Interestingly, however, KCR himself will not take time off but send party leaders who contested the election on a junket later this week.

He has ordered all of them to be at the party office in upmarket Jubilee Hills by May 15, a day before counting. The trip is apparently a safety measure to avoid TRS winners from being poached by rivals.

The TRS has fielded 45 candidates for the assembly election and nine for the Lok Sabha. Given that in all likelihood it will be a hung assembly, as also MPs would be in demand at the Centre, KCR is worried and wants to ensure his flock stays together.

His foe-turned-friend Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu, however, is a content man after putting up a formidable opposition to the ruling Congress. He is said to be planning a family trip to Singapore later this week.

Likewise, actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi will take off for the US where an NRI doctor friend is said to be hosting him for a much-deserved holiday. However, his actor-brother and star campaigner Pavan Kalyan said he would complete his shooting schedule and go on a holiday later.

Clearly, these leaders need to recharge their batteries, given that May 16 portends a no-holds-barred battle for heads both at the Centre and in the state with a split verdict almost a certainty.