TDP is tired

With questions being raised about Chandrababu Naidu’s future, even TDP insiders feel that the road ahead will be tough for him

- RAHUL DEVULAPALLI

CHANGE HAS COME for the first time in three decades for the villagers of ON Kothuru in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Ever since the formation of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1982, the sarpanch of the village had always been from the party. The village falls in Kuppam assembly constituency, represented by former chief minister and TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu since 1989.

But the village panchayat elections held in February saw a candidate backed by the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) becoming the sarpanch. The overall results in Kuppam dealt an even bigger blow to the TDP; the YSRCP won 74 village panchayats. “We are confident of defeating Naidu in the next assembly elections,” said K.R.J. Bharat, YSRCP’s Kuppam constituency in-charge.

The TDP camp said the YSRCP won through undemocratic means. “We still believe that all those 74 village panchayats belong to us,” said G. Srinivasulu, a TDP legislative council member who hails from Kuppam.