The Telangana issue rocked the TDP on Sunday with the party apparently heading for a vertical split on the issue. At least 10 dissenting TDP members from Telangana, bolstered by the party’s deputy leader in the assembly Nagam Janardhan Reddy, have raised the banner of revolt.
While Reddy and others denied this saying they would leave the party only when they retire from politics, they kept the embers of revolt burning: TDP leaders from the region would be meeting again on Jan. 13 to work out their survival strategy.
The dissent in TDP began when more than 10 of TDP’s Telangana leaders – E Dayakar Rao, Kadiam Srihari, K Vijayarama Rao, Harishwar Reddy, S Venkateswara Rao, Gampa Goverdhan and Jaipal Yadav among others – did not attend a meeting called by party chief N Chandrababu Naidu at his residence. Instead, they assembled at the house of Janardhan Reddy leading to speculation that they were dissatisfied and contemplating joining TRS.
With fissures surfacing, Naidu held an emergency meeting with leaders, including parliamentary party leader N Nageswara Rao, T Devender Goud, Tummala Nageswara Rao, Mandva Venkateswara Rao and P Ramulu. When Naidu was told those who met at Reddy’s house were insisting on a separate Telangana unit, he made it clear that he was willing to constitute a coordination committee and nothing more. He said when the state was still united, it would not be correct to create a separate unit.(TOI)
