Barely a day after Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu’s letter to the Prime Minister on the issue of Telangana, the party suffered a jolt with an MLA threatening to resign and another important leader quitting the party. Incidentally, both these legislators belong to the Rayalaseema region.
The young legislator, A.V. Praveen Kumar Reddy, represents Thamballapalle in Mr. Naidu’s native Chittoor district while former MLA Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy is from Kurnool. The latter had recently floated Rayalaseema Parirakshana Samithi.
Mr. Praveen Kumar Reddy demanded that the party take a stand in favour of united State and withdraw the letter sent to the Prime Minister. If the party leadership fails to do so, he would be forced to quit the party, he threatened. “Mr. Naidu has been betraying Rayalaseema for long and his actions have been making my stay uncomfortable in the party,” he said. Criticising the letter, he said it was written without consulting all leaders of Andhra and Rayalaseema regions and that it would specially harm the interests of Rayalaseema. He also made it clear that he would not participate in Mr. Naidu’s “Vastunna Meekosam” padayatra.
Mr. Rajasekhara Reddy who has been with the party for the last 19 years announced his resignation saying Mr. Naidu should have supported the cause of separate Rayalaseema while supporting Telangana. “What will be the fate of Rayalaseema if Telangana becomes inevitable?” He said he would work apolitically for the protection of Rayalaseema’s interests and take up a 40-day 1,000-km padayatra from October 2.
