Even though the city of Hyderabad is drowned in election din, the Telugu Desam Party is not to be seen anywhere in city, except the banners of the party in the company of Bharatiya Janata Party.

All those defected from Yellow party to Pink TRS are fully involved in the campaign for the on-going polls for Greater Hyderabda Municipal Corporation (GHMC). The City is reverberating with the slogans of Congress and TRS, and MIM and MBT inn old city. But, the party, which ruled the city for quite some time,which claims that it was the builder of modern Hyderabad, has fallen silent. There remained no name worth the mention in the electoral politics to campaign for it. The hasty campaign of some adventurist media that TDP-BJP would rope in ‘victory Masot’ Pawan Kalyan doesn’t appear to be based on any reality. Similarly, there is no sign of joint campaign by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu in the form of road-shows in Hyderabad. If Telugu Desam sources are to be believed, Naidu so far has not asked any cabinet minister from Andhra Pradesh to campaign in Hyderabad. There have been no piercing tweets from Nara Lokesh Naidu either. Till October 2, 2016, Lokesh was hyperactive on twitter, reacting on everything that happened in Hyderabad. Jokes were cracked on young Naidu’s political enthusiasm to use safe Twitter to attack Telangana chief minister KCR and his son and IT minister K Taraka Ramarao. The arrival of KCR as guest of honor at the foundation laying ceremony of Amaravati put an end to Lokesh’s twitter humor. Later, the Nizam College grounds public meeting Naidu addressed last week appears to be the first and last major program from TDP.

Ordinary party cadre is not able to understand the intriguing silence of their leader. Some TDP leaders say Lokesh is not as street smart as sons of other Telugu chief ministers present and past. He has not yet hit the road and faced the rough weather in the streets. So far, he addressed in-door meetings in the NTR Trust Bhavan or inaugurated the training camps for party workers. Since he grew up as the son of chief minister or opposition leader, he hadn’t had an opportunity to hit the roads like KT Ramarao and Kavita- for that matter like Jagan, who spent more time in streets and on roads.

So Lokesh’s hesitation to hit the dusty roads of Hyderabad is understandable. The major constraint for Lokesh’s campaign is the absence an enemy to attack. This won’t create any stimulus to shout in public. Given the blossoming friendship between his father Naidu and T-Chief minister KCR , Lokesh has no subject to talk about and use it as a poll plank to seek votes from the residents of Hyderabad.

If our sources in TDP are to believed,

* Lokeh is reportedly barred from attacking KCR, KTR and TRS government in GHMC polls.
* He has been instructed by his father only to dwell on the contributions Naidu made to the growth of Hyderabad
* He is said to have been advised not touch upon the sensitive Seemandhra topic
* Similarly, TRS won’t be divisive in its campaign.
* TRS will only attack Congress and confine its criticism to past 10 years and BJP at centre
* TRS will keep on talking reassuring the Seemandhras that there blood is as Telangana as that of any TRS member.