Telugu Desam Party supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu is very determined to revive the lost glory of his party in Telangana in the next few years. Though the party was pushed into the state of complete oblivion with the sudden exit of Telangana president Kasani Gnaneshwar ahead of the 2023 polls in November last year, Naidu appears to have now harboured the dream to regain its strength after his historic electorate victory in Andhra Pradesh assembly elections in June this year.
On Saturday, Naidu convened a meeting with a TDP leaders of Telangana in NTR Trust Bhavan Hyderabad and announced his plans to reclaim the party’s lost charisma in the state and vowed to strengthen the cadre in the coming days. He exuded confidence in bringing the party back to power in Telangana in the future. Naidu said TDP once had a stronghold in Telangana, but lost the grip due to many reasons. He admitted that the party didn’t contest in the last year’s elections for some reasons and also agreed that the president wasn’t announced owing to his busy commitments in Andhra Pradesh.
Naidu informed all TTDP leaders that the restructuring of the party will commence very soon and a membership drive will be conducted on a large scale. He also promised to take steps to strengthen the party at all levels. Naidu also announced that he will avail himself to meet Telangana leaders once in a while to discuss about the strategies to help the party revive the past glory.
It looks like the victory in Andhra Pradesh emboldened Naidu to concentrate on Telangana politics. After the state bifurcation, TTDP dominated some areas in Telangana in the 2014 elections. However, by 2019, the party struggled to keep its flock together and performed poorly in elections. In 2023, it completely stayed away from the contest. Many of its leaders dumped the party and joined the remaining parties.
Already, three parties are fighting it out in Telangana. So, it would be interesting to see if Naidu can lift the party from the ashes there and make it a force to reckon with in the next few years.
