TDP stares at worst ever crisis

Hyderabad: Already reeling under the blow of four Rajya Sabha members defecting to the BJP, Telugu Desam party is now staring at perhaps the worst crisis in its history as speculation was rife that more than a dozen of its 23 MLAs were now planning to do the same.

Even as party supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu was on a vacation in Europe and was conducting teleconferences with senior party leaders to find ways to stem the rot, all eyes were on party leader from Visakhapatnam Ganta Srinivas Rao.

Political circles were abuzz that Srinivas Rao was leading the group of MLAs which was in touch with the BJP and was waiting for the required numbers to make a move. What has added fuel to the speculation was the absence of a large number of TDP MLAs from the state. Some of them were reportedly vacationing in Sri Lanka.

Telugu Desam sources say that trouble was brewing in the party ever since the shock defeat of the party as many senior leaders were unhappy with Naidu for trying to impose his son Nara Lokesh as a leader on the party. “Party is paying a price for the inexperience of Nara Lokesh who was given free hand by Naidu in running the party affairs. He proved a disaster in this election,” a senior party leader said.

To avoid the anti-defection law and make it appear like a formal split in the TDP, the defectors need to have two-third strength, that is 16 of the 23 to join them.

If that happens the BJP will become the main opposition party in the state assembly even without winning a single seat in the recent elections in the state.

The BJP leaders also confirm that not only a group of MLAs was in touch with the party but another Rajya Sabha member Ravindra Kumar was also likely to change the sides. With this the TDP will be left with lone member in Rajya Sabha Seetharama Lakshmi and three members in Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, the ongoing tussle between the TDP and the YSR government further intensified with the administration suddenly taking over “Praja Vedika” building next to the residence of Chandrababu Naidu in Undavalli area of Amravati on Saturday.

In a dramatic move the administration threw out all the belongings of Chandrababu Naidu from the Vedika building without giving any notice to him or his family.

As the Chief Minister Naidu was using the building as a camp office and a place to conduct his various meetings and after losing power he had requested the government to allot it to him as leader of opposition. But YS Jaganmohan Reddy government rejecting the request has now taken over the building.

The government has decided to use the Praja Vedika as the venue for official meetings starting with the district collectors’ conference.

Guntur district collector Himanshu Shukla said that a team of officials inspected the place on Saturday and decided to take it over and make arrangements for the official conference.

Meanwhile, former minister Y. Ramakrishnudu condemned the government action as “vindictive move” and said that they did not have courtesy even to inform the present occupant. “It was like annexe to the residence of Chandrababu Naidu and they threw out his belonging from there on the road”, he said.