: As many as 16 YSR Congress MLAs have crossed over to the ruling Telugu Desam Party in the last two months, but in Chittoor, home turf of party president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, ‘Operation Akarsh’ remains a non-starter. What is worrying the TDP leaders is that the YSRC has come to attack the government with collective efforts.
At present, of the 14 MLAs in the district, the YSR Congress has eight and the TDP the rest. The 2014 Assembly elections post bifurcation of AP turned out to be a do-or-die battle for the TDP and the YSR Congress, with the Congress and the Jai Samaikyandhra Party (floated by Nallari Kiran Kumar Redy) getting wiped out. The TDP received a severe jolt with the defeat of veteran leaders Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu and Galla Arunakumari in Nagari and Chandragiri Assembly constituencies at the hands of Roja and Chevireddi Bhaskar Reddy. Another veteran Congress leader — G. Kuthuhalamma, who contested as TDP candidate — suffered defeat in the GD Nellore constituency with the YSRC winning by a big margin.
Similarly, in the western mandals also, considered as the bastion of the TDP since NTR’s time, the YSRC won the Punganur, Piler, Madanapalle and Palamaner. Puthalapattu (SC)seats.
Six months after the formation of the TDP government, there was talk that a couple of MLAs from the western mandals would join the TDP.
Punganur MLA P. Ramachandra Reddy exerts strong influence on all the other YSRC MLAs in the district.
A majority of the YSRC cadres in western mandals consider Mr. Reddy as their leader rather than the party.
For over three decades, the district TDP leadership has been held by the dominant Kamma and Reddy communities, and for the first time it went into the hands of a BC leader G. Srinivasulu, an MLC from Mr. Chandrababu Naidu’s Kuppam constituency. Senior leaders, who feel that he has no grip over the BC communities in the district, consider him as a lightweight
Cadre feel let down
TDP cadres in the western constituencies are a disgruntled lot. Also, seniors such as Mr. Muddukrishnama Naidu and Ms. Arunakumari have been keeping themselves away from active politics.
The feeling among TDP cadres is that Mr. Chandrababu Naidu is completely depending on the MLAs and the district leadership and keeping them at a distance.
The TDP’s best performance was in 1994, but after NTR’s exit the party’s fortunes nosedived.
