Telangana Telugu Desam Party leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao has said he is not in the race for the post of the party president of the Telangana unit.
Mr. Rao asserted that he is content with the post of the Telangana legislature party president and would cooperate with whomsoever the party leadership selects for heading the Telangana unit.
He made the comments in the backdrop of reports of differences he has with another party legislator A. Revanth Reddy.
The remarks come at a time when the TDP leadership has intensified efforts to identify an acceptable leader who could lead the party in Telangana where it had witnessed several leaders crossing over to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.
IVRS survey
The TDP leadership, according to sources, opted for an IVRS survey to zero in on the choice of candidate for the post and accordingly, messages were being sent to the party leaders and cadre asking about their preference.
TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, who held discussions with the Telangana leaders on Friday, is understood to have told them that he would be in the city on September 23 when the party leadership is likely to discuss about the selection of the party president in Telangana.
Preference, according to sources, would be given to leaders who have mass appeal and the capability to retain the TDP’s cadre in the party fold.
The TTDP leaders criticised Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for his negligent attitude in preventing suicides by farmers which are growing by the day.
Mr. Dayakar Rao termed the suicides as “government murders” and demanded that it pay ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lakh each to families of the ryots who took to the extreme step. He said the TTDP had taken the initiative in helping out the families by distributing Rs. 50,000 each to 400 families who lost their breadwinners.
“The Telangana government should compete with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh where Rs. 5 lakh each has been paid as compensation,” he said.
