Taking the gloves off, Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu has decided to directly target TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao as it tries to recover lost ground in the bypolls in Telangana.
The TDP strategy will be to nail Mr Rao for failing to get Telangana and blame the death of 700 people on him.
Mr Naidu, who held a series of meetings with Telangana Telugu Desam Party leaders before leaving for his four-day holiday abroad, reportedly made it clear that Mr Rao and the TRS were to be the main targets.
“Our main rival in Telangana is TRS. Congress comes second. Our focus will be on the TRS,” Mr T. Devender Goud, senior TDP leader, told this newspaper.