Telugu Desam Party tries to rope in YSR Congress main leaders

Hyderabad: Tadepalligudem MLA Eeli Venkata Madhusudan Rao (Nani) is the latest Congress leader to jump into the Telugu Desam Party. The entry of Mr Nani is an example of the piquant situation the TDP will face when it begins to allot tickets to contest the elections. He won from Tadepalligudem on a Praja Rajyam ticket in 2009, defeating K. Satyanarayana of the Congress and M. Bapi Raju of the TD. All three are now in the TD and competing with each other for the ticket!

“This is only the tip of the iceberg. We are going to face a similar situation in several constituencies thanks to the poaching policy being pursued vigorously by the corporate coterie of the party chief,” said a party leader. “Time will only tell if the poaching yields results or boomerangs.”

The industrialist MPs, Sujana Chowdary and C.M. Ramesh have been on a mission to attract leaders of other parties apparently to create a feel-good factor for the TD.

Party sources said the poaching strategy has been taking an extreme turn what with the corporate coterie now setting their eyes on prominent leaders of the YSR Congress. Several Congress leaders have been admitted into the TD from East Godavari district, including former minister Thota Narasimham. Efforts are being made to now invite his arch rival and YSRC leader Jyothula Nehru back to the party fold. Mr Nehru is a two- time TDP legislator in 1994 and 1999.

Several senior TDP leaders are unhappy at the way politicians are conveniently switching sides to ensure they continue in power in whatever party. “We stuck to the TDP and bore all the hardships a party in opposition for a decade will face and yet we are not sure of a party ticket as the jumpers have every possibility of knocking it away,” lamented a leader.

Like former minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, who enjoyed ultimate power in Visakhapatnam district as Anakapalle MP during Mr Naidu’s regime. He later shifted loyalties to the Praja Rajyam and after that party’s merger with the Congress, became a Cabinet minister.

The TD leadership, however, is convinced that a mass exodus from other parties to it will build up the image as the party that is waiting in the wings to form the first government in the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. “Why else would leaders rush to join us?” asks a party leader who supports the switchovers.