Hyderabad: The Telugu Desam has created a record in terms of its alliance with different parties. There is no party, barring the Congress, it has had no alliance with either in the assembly or Lok Sabha elections. Now that too is changing. This time the TD has decided to join hands with its arch rival to fight the polls. From the inception of the party to the ensuing Telangana assembly elections, the TD has never contested on its own in any assembly or Lok Sabha elections in its history. Its alliance track record started in 1983 in the erstwhile AP (United) assembly elections when it contested for the first time. The first ally of the TD was Sanjay Vichar Manch floated by Maneka Gandhi, wife of Sanjay Gandhi in the1983 assembly elections.
TD has had a love and hate relationship with BJP in terms of poll alliance with it. After the 'save democracy' movement in 1984, the then Chief Minister and TD founder President N.T. Rama Rao dissolved the Assembly and in the 1985 assembly elections, TD forged an alliance with the BJP. Later, under the present TD president N. Chandrababu in the 1998 general elections, the BJP and the TD sailed together. the TD extended outside support to the NDA, paving the way for Atal Behari Vajpayee to become Prime Minister. TD quit the NDA led by the BJP in 2004 after losing power in the Assembly elections. Chandrababu Naidu expressed regrets for having an alliance with the BJP and commented that it was a “historical blunder”.
In the 2009 assembly elections, TD had an alliance with the TRS, but in that election too, it was defeated. After the defeat in two assembly elections, TD joined the NDA again in the 2014 assembly and Lok Sabha elections and came to power in AP after state bifurcation. Once again, it broke ties with the BJP six months ago. TD has had an alliance with the CPI and CPM also in several elections. For the first time in its 36-year history, the TD is setting aside its rivalry to join hands with the Congress in the upcoming TS assembly elections.
