After losing its cadres to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Congress in Telangana, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) – the party founded by matinee idol N T Rama Rao and led by his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu – is also losing its muscle in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema. Ahead of civic body elections, TDP is facing existential crisis with exodus of party’s key leaders to YSRCP. Naidu once considered by many as the country’s only politician with a 21st century vision has now turned myopic with his political miscalculations.
After the crushing defeat at the hands of the young and aggressive YSRCP president Jagan Mohan Reddy in 2019 elections, the aged Naidu (70) seems to be crestfallen with no fresh ideas to inspire the party’s cadre and completely out of sync with his electorate as well as out of touch with ground realities. The recent exits of important leaders of his party, including the rivals of the Kadapa strongman and former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy shows that Naidu has lost the big plot. The exits show that there is a definite erosion of faith among party leaders in Naidu’s leadership. A man who had courted three Bills — Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and Dollar Bill; and once hailed as a kingmaker now looks clueless on how to keep his flock together. The man who claims to have shaped the idea of the Hyderabad today with its IT hubs and modern infrastructure now seems to be a poor shadow of self, a lone voice in TDP crying in wilderness. TDP members from different districts, including a few state leaders, have joined the TRS. At least 10 prominent TDP members joined the TRS after the bifurcation of the united Andhra Pradesh.
The first setback for Naidu was when his most trusted senior leaders and former ministers T Devender Goud and E Peddi Reddy quit the party in protest against lack of clarity on separate statehood to Telangana. Four-time MLA Talasani Srinivas Yadav, a rebel TDP leader, quit the Sanathnagar MLA seat as well as the party’s membership and joined the TRS in 2014. This was followed by former MLA from Maheshwaram and Hyderabad Mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy. Another prominent TDP leader Revanth Reddy, known to be the closest aide to Naidu, quit the party after the changed political environment post formation of Telangana. The tragic loss of Srikakulam strongman Yerran Naidu, always stood behind Naidu, dealt a big blow to Naidu. What started in Telangana, soon spread to coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. Leader after leader, day after day, are deserting the Naidu camp. Another blow hit Naidu hard was the tragic death of prominent Muslim leader Lal Jan Basha in a road mishap on his way from Guntur to Hyderabad. The deaths have left a political vacuum in TDP that Naidu couldn’t fill.
In coastal Andhra, leaders from the TDP joined the YSRCP in droves before the 2019 elections as they lost confidence in the political fortunes of the party. Most jumped the ship realizing that Naidu lost his image as a winning horse.
Anakapally Lok Sabha MP Avanti Srinivas resigned from the TDP to join the YSRCP. This was followed by Chirala MLA Amachi Krishna Mohan. Several leaders who quit the party blamed the widespread casteism and favoritism in the party with key positions in the government during Naidu regime occupied by Naidu’s Kamma community. Kurnool MP Butta Renuka, MLC Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and former minister Aadala Prabhakar Reddy shocked the TDP by switching over to the YSRC. The exodus did not stop. In East Godavari, TDP’s Thota Trimurtulu joined YSRCP, former MP and former minister Konathala Ramakrishna, former MP Vanga Geeta from East Godavari, senior TDP leader from north Andhra Dadi Veerabhadra Rao and his son Dadi Ratnakar joined the Jagan bandwagon.
In the more recent times, former minister and two-time MLA Dokka Manikya Varaprasad Rao resigned from the primary membership of the TDP and joined the YSRCP in the presence of its president and Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy at his camp office.
Dokka’s exit was followed by TDP leader and Kadapa’s strongman Satish Reddy, who challenged the supremacy of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in Pulivendula, quit the party expressing his displeasure over N Chandrababu Naidu’s leadership. In Prakasam, former MLA Kadiri Babu Rao quit the TDP and met Jagan Mohan Reddy to join his party. Kadiri Babu Rao, a close associate of Nandamuri Balakrishna and a Kapu strongman in Prakasam, was upset with the TDP high command for allotting the Kanigiri ticket he won in 2014 elections to former Congress leader Ugra Narasimha Reddy and shifted him to Darshi in 2019 elections. Prakasam strongman Karanam Balaram too decided to quit the TDP for admitting his arch rival Gottipatti Ravikumar into party fold.
The biggest setback, however, is his son Nara Lokesh who lost his first election in Amaravati. Naidu projected him as heir apparent, but Lokesh lacks the political shrewdness or astuteness to steer the party to the next level if Naidu were to step down as the party chief. TDP now is a weak party with a strong but an aged leader. The party cadre, probably even Naidu himself, is clueless in which direction the party is headed. With exodus of prominent leaders and a burnt-out leader still at the helm of TDP, it is unsure if the party will ever see a turnaround in its political fortunes.
