For the first time in its 26-year chequered political history, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has been struck by the exodus virus and also isolated on both national and state levels.
Naidu fails to stem exodus of leaders as Chiranjeevi readies to launch his own outfit
HYDERABAD: For the first time in its 26-year chequered political history, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has been struck by the exodus virus and also isolated on both national and state levels.
Within days of the embarrassment of the Samajwadi Party walking out of the UNPA, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu suffered yet another setback with the exit of two former party MPs. Two other MPs and former ministers are in the exit pipeline.
Though leaders have left the TDP earlier as well, it was mostly due to differences with the leadership, not policies. But almost all the leaders who left the party last fortnight quoted policy bankruptcy of Naidu as the reason.
Nearly a dozen TDP leaders from Telangana and Rayalaseema have since walked out, embarrassing the party leadership and the president, who kept himself busy with his Mee-Kosam Yatra.
Stung by the fast pace of events affecting the party, Naidu has summoned a state executive at Khammam on July 13 to motivate cadres and leaders.
Three weeks after the favourable bypoll results, prominent Telangana leader and party No. 2 Devender Gowd walked out in a huff over the indecision on statehood.
Within weeks of Gowd’s exit, the political couple from Kurnool, Bhooma and Shoba Nagi Reddy, quit protesting Naidu’s indifference.
Bhooma is a former MP and Shoba a former minister in the Naidu cabinet. Both had become defunct in the party for over a year.
Their desertion of the party was soon followed by that of C Ramachandraiah, former Rajya Sabha MP and one-time close aide of Naidu.
Political analysts attribute the exodus to the triple impact of the pro-Telangana trend, delimitation eroding popular bases of the leaders and the threat of emergence of a new party of actor Chiranjeevi championing the cause of the backward classes.
The TDP leadership is unnerved but is keeping its fingers crossed before Chiranjeevi announces his party, so that they could take corrective measures in one shot.
“All those who have left us, including Devender Gowd, were concerned about their constituencies and are looking for greener pastures in other parties,” TDP spokesman MV Mysoora Reddy said.
But the fact is, party leaders disapproved Naidu’s attempts to boost his waning popularity with the help of NTR’s family and also felt the TDP had no chance against the “avalanche” of Chiranjeevi who has a firm following among the kapu communities in the state.
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