Deep differences among the Telugu Desam Party leaders in Telangana over the party’s course of action in the next elections came to the fore yet again.
Party polit bureau member Motkupalli Narsimhulu has favoured the merger of the TDP with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti.
The TDP had considerably weakened over the past couple of years and there was no effective leader who could steer the party through the crisis it was faced with at present. “The TDP leaders are undergoing a lot of turmoil due to the recent developments,” he said.
Mr. Narsimhulu said joining the TRS would be an honourable exit for the party as the TRS had been formed by K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who himself is a former member of the TDP. He wanted the party leadership to treat this as an advice and hoped that party president N. Chandrababu Naidu would take his remarks in the right spirit.
Mr. Narsimhulu’s comments reflect the magnitude of uncertainty about their political future which the TDP leaders are facing. The differences among senior leadership of the party over whether or not to join hands with the TRS are coming into the open more often than not.
A section of senior leaders headed by party’s then working president A. Revanth Reddy reportedly quit the party recently as a fall out of these differences. Mr. Revanth Reddy had subsequently joined the Congress even as the TDP witnessed an exodus of senior leaders with long standing in the party.
Senior leaders including party president L. Ramana are, however, dismissing the claims of Mr. Narsimhulu asserting that the party would contest all the 119 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats in the coming elections. Senior leaders are also questioning the rationale behind Mr. Narsimhulu’s sudden outbursts coinciding with TDP founder N.T. Rama Rao’s death anniversary.
Terming Mr. Narsimhulu’s comments as his personal views, Mr. Ramana said the party continued to be a strong force in terms of cadre strength and it would be a strong contender in the coming elections. A section of leaders are, however, regretting the leadership’s decision to give crucial party posts to leaders like Mr. Narsimhulu recalling the manner in which he switched his political loyalties from the Congress in the past.
