Cadre hope Telugu Desam will gain strength in Telangana

Khammam: The erstwhile leaders of the Telugu Desam are hoping that party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu may concentrate on the party’s revival in Telangana state after its defeat in AP.

Interestingly, more TD leaders than expected, attended the party foundation day celebrations at the party office in Khammam on Tuesday. The gathering was larger than earlier when the programme used to stretch on with long speeches of former minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, Nama Nageswara Rao, MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah and Tulluru Brahmaiah who have now joined the TRS.

On Tuesday, senior leaders Vallamkonda Venkatramaiah, Kurapati Venkateswarlu, T. Sivaiah and Gangadhara Chowdary attended the programme and stressed on their loyalty to the party. Many leaders in the TD believe that the loyal member have not left the party and they were maintaining a strategic silence. “They will come out at the time of need,” a leader said.

Mr T. Jeevan Kumar, a Telugu Desam leader, said that the cadre should not be dejected by the developments in AP and Telangana state and this was not the end of the party. “The TD chief may concentrate more on the revival of the party in TS as he has enough time to spend on it,” he said.

Mr N. Syam Sunder, a party worker, said that the leaders and activists came to the office and paid tributes to the party’s founder leader N.T. Rama Rao.  He said the cadre had not cared when senior leaders like Nama, Tummala, Sandra, Swarna Kumari, Brahmaiah and several others defected to the TRS.