Chandrababu Naidu goes for party revamp after massive electoral setback

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday announced the presidents of 25 parliamentary units and 13 parliament observers for the party.

 This is a major announcement since the TDP suffered a major setback in 2019 assembly elections, when it got just 23 seats in the assembly polls. TDP supremo stressed that the party had focused on a merger of meritocracy with democracy in its current choice of appointees. It is understood that these changes are being rolled out to help TDP members to prepare a platform for local issues and empower ordinary people to hold the YSRCP government to account. 

Sources indicate that a ground exercise was carried out to gain candidate perception and acceptability prior to the announcement.

 Some interesting names appear in the list released by the party earlier. Palla Srinivas, a strong leader from the Yadava community has been put in charge of the Visakhapatnam parliamentary seat. Among others, 44- year old Abdul Aziz has been given the responsibility to handle affairs of the Nellore parliamentary constituency.

 Naidu’s determination to accomplish the unachievable and his meticulous planning is something that has often unnerved his rivals. Whether it is the inclusion of members from the Reddy community in his recent party rejig or appointing a 32-year old as president of Vizianagaram parliamentary constituency.

 Naidu’s tactical approach is hidden in the details as this 32-year old Kimidi Nagarjuna is not just an enthusiastic youth politician but also a member of the Turpu Kapu community, a dominant community in Uttar Andhra. 

The TDP also announced 13 Observers to oversee the affairs of 2 parliamentary constituencies each except for Araku, which got its own exclusive Observer appointed by the party. However, it will be important to see what kind of result these appointments yield in future but Chandrababu is leaving nothing to chance as far as formulating electoral strategy is concerned.