After suffering a series of setbacks following desertion by several senior party leaders in the last four years, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is trying to regain its past glory in the district, once considered its bastion, ahead of the coming Assembly polls.
Even as talks between the TDP, Congress, Telangana Jana Samithi and CPI over sharing of seats as part of a grand alliance against the ruling TRS are under way at the State level, the TDP district leaders are insisting on allocation of four of the total 10 seats in the undivided Khammam district to their party.
Of the total 10 seats — five each in Khammam and Bhadradri-Kothagudem districts, the TDP is keen on contesting from Khammam, Aswaraopeta, Kothagudem or Pinapaka besides Sattupalli, the constituency represented by S Venkata Veeraiah of the party in the dissolved State Assembly.
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Star campaigner
The TDP won the Sattupalli SC reserved seat and came second in six constituencies in the undivided Khammam district in the 2014 elections.
In an effort to retain the seat, the TDP has decided to rope in actor and party MLA from Hindupur of Andhra Pradesh Nandamuri Balakrishna to campaign for the party in the constituency.
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Mr Balakrishna will lead a huge rally from Thallada to Sattupalli where he will unveil the statue of the TDP founder late N T Rama Rao and address a public meeting on October 1, said TDP district president T Brahmaiah.
Party polit bureau member Nama Nageswara Rao and others would participate in the campaign to garner support for Mr Venkata Veeraiah, he told reporters here.
Cadre intact
The cadre strength of the TDP is intact in the entire undivided Khammam district and the party has a solid vote bank in the range of a minimum of 20,000 votes in each constituency in the district, he said. He said the party’s rank and file was insisting on contesting from at least four seats in the undivided Khammam district, leaving the rest to the allies of the grand alliance against the TRS at the hustings.