TDP core team is holding meetings and visiting districts to plan assembly-wise strategy for the party.
New Delhi: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the main opposition party of Andhra Pradesh, is trying hard to regain its lost ground in the state and replace the YSR Congress-led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy as the pre-eminent political force. In recent times, the TDP chief and his core team is roping election strategists and holding meetings with their workers to address the shortcomings of the party. TDP state president Kinjarapu Atchannaidu and his team is visiting districts to plan assembly-wise strategy for the party and report it to the party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA, Ramakrishna Babu Velagapudi said: “Under the Jaganmohan Reddy-led government, there is corruption of unprecedented scale and it has led to misery for the common people of Andhra Pradesh. In the state, electricity rates are perhaps the highest in the country and despite that, power cuts are a daily thing; the ruling party is responsible for the growing problems of the common masses. The chief minister and his party members are greedy for money and power. The present government had cancelled the power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the solar companies which were initiated by the former government led by Chandrababu Naidu, but Jagan Reddy is on a destructive path because of his hatred towards our leader. We know that people are seeing all this and want change in the state. In the coming elections, the TDP will storm back to power with a three-fourth majority in the state.”
In the 2019 Assembly elections, the TDP won only 23 seats, while the YSC Congress-led by Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy got 151 seats in the House of 175 members. The TDP had also started a campaign and had accused the ruling dispensation of Jagan Mohan Reddy for adversely impacting the interests and rights of the farmers of the state and not bargaining for a better deal at the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) meeting. They have questioned the government for bringing Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam under the purview of the KRMB while giving exemption to the Jurala project. They alleged that 120 tmcft water would be gone from Jurala which in result would badly harm the future prospects of irrigation in Rayalaseema.
But, despite all the exercise, many prominent leaders are leaving the party and joining YSR-Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state. The party suffered a major blow in Chittoor, the home district of its boss N. Chandrababu Naidu as former member of Parliament N.P. Durga Ramakrishna and senior leader N.P. Venkateswara Chowdhary, joined the saffron outfit. BJP leaders like state president Somu Veerraju and national office-bearer D. Purandeswari had welcomed the TDP leaders in the saffron party.
Many political experts and analysts of Andhra Pradesh argue that it will take time for the TDP to electorally challenge the ruling YSR Congress as many key leaders had left it and the organization had become weak in the last two years.
Hyderabad based political analyst and journalist Sadgopal Reddy said: “It is not easy as of now to challenge Jagan Mohan Reddy. The YSR-Congress is very strong on the ground having mass connect, while the TDP is a bit weak since many of its top leaders had left the party since 2019 realising that they have a better chance in the YSR-Congress.
The TDP is trying to revive and energise its cadres, but it will certainly take time. The party is raising some very pertinent issues and holding protests, but they also need to work more on the ground and educate the masses about the problems due to the present government’s decisions. The 2024 elections are very important for the party as it might be N. Chandrababu Naidu’s last election.”