Call it a lone battle of Telugu Desam Party President N. Chandrababu Naidu or indiscipline in the party. Mr. Naidu is all set to wrap up his Vastunna Meekosam padayatra in a day in the district, but most of the Telugu Desam leaders have not taken up padayatras in their constituencies.
The party’s much-touted ‘Intintiki Telugu Desam’ remains a non-starter in majority of the constituencies in Krishna district till date despite directions from the party president.
Except in the Mylavaram constituency, which is represented by district president Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, the walkathon either has not been kick-started or launched for namesake. Gudivada incharge Ravi Venkateswara Rao, Tiruvur incharge Nallgatla Swamy Das, and Vijayawada (Central) incharge Bonda Umamaheswara Rao did not continue their padayatra though they launched it long back.
The walkathons were not launched in the TDP strongholds such as Jaggaiahpeta too. The party bagged Jaggaiahpeta, Nandigama, Mylavaram, Nuzvid, Kaikaluru, Avanigadda, Gudivada, and Gannavaram in the 2009 elections. Of this, Gudivada MLA Kodali Venkateswara Rao (Nani) and Nuzvid MLA Chinnam Ramakotaiah switched their loyalties to the YSR Congress and the Congress respectively.
The Nuzvid and Penamaluru constituencies remain orphan with no party incharge there. The party has not named any leader for Penamuluru after demise of Chalasani Pandu. There are none to take up the padayatra there. Mr. Ravi Venkateswara Rao joined the cauldron as party incharge in Gudivada immediately after Mr. Nani left the party, but not much impact is seen. Avanigadda MLA Ambati Brahmanaiah, Gannavaram MLA Dasari Balavardhana Rao, Nandigama MLA Tangirala Prabhakar, Kaikaluru MLA Jayamangala Venkata Ramana, and Jaggaiahpeta MLA Sriram Rajgopal are yet to launch the padayatra. Mr. Naidu gave a break to his padayatra and took rest at Paritala village near here. To the utter dismay of Mr. Naidu, party sources say, none of the senior leaders or sitting MLAs spoke about the issues concerning their constituencies or about the party. In addition, they vied with each other to praise Mr. Naidu.
