Young blood will be infused to strengthen Telugu Desam Party, says Naidu

Committees for every district and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies will be formed, party chief tells general body meeting

N. Chandrababu Naidu and other leaders arriving for the general body meeting in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu has said that plans are being chalked out to strengthen the party. Necessary steps will be taken on a war-footing to strengthen the party. The party will chalk out plans to thwart the attacks on TDP leaders and workers, he said.

Addressing a general body meeting of the party here on Tuesday, Mr. Naidu said that young blood would be infused into the party. The future belongs to youth, who had to run the party for the next 20 to 30 years. The organisational base of the party would be strengthened; committees for every district and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies would be formed. The TDP membership drive was completed. Village and Mandal Committees need to be constituted. All affiliated wings would be strengthened, he said.

Stating that crises were not new to the TDP, Mr. Naidu said the party faced several odds in the last 37 years, but overcame all of them with the support of people and activists.

The TDP faced nine elections, won in five and lost four. The party garnered 40% votes in the recent elections. Though there was an increase in vote share, the number of seats had come down. The reasons need to be found out and prepare an action plan accordingly.

During the last 80 days, there were 469 attacks on TDP workers in which seven were killed and 172 were physically attacked.

Water sharing

Raising strong objections to the proposed move of the State government to stabilise Krishna and Nagarjuna Sagar deltas by lifting Godavari water to Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar dams along with the Telangana government, Mr. Naidu said there were many options available for A.P. instead of constructing projects on the land of another State.

Chief Ministers were not permanent, but people’s sentiments and public opinion would remain forever. It was not wrong to share 20 tmcft of water with the neighbouring State, but creating tensions between the people was not correct. “For the first time, we are witnessing a government which is on scrapping spree and bringing development to a grinding halt,” he said.