The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will not be contesting the upcoming November 30 Assembly elections in Telangana. With party national president and ex-Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu still in prison over corruption charges in the ‘Skill Development scam’, the party currently has other priorities. Moreover, the TDP is also on a sticky wicket as far as alliances are concerned. Though it has formally joined hands with the Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP) in Andhra, the JSP is in seat-sharing talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Telangana as it is still part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Both the JSP and BJP have said they are not going with the TDP in Telangana, putting Naidu’s party – which once had a huge cadre across the state – at a disadvantage. Even until last year, the TDP’s top leadership was considering contesting the Telangana polls and had even appointed Kasani Gnaneswar, a Backward Class leader, as the state president. However, a TDP leader told TNM, “We are not going to contest the elections, that is the decision the party has taken. Kasani is apparently looking to join the Congress, is what we heard.” A JSP leader also told TNM that the alliance with the TDP is restricted to Andhra.
TNM’s exclusive-for-subscribers newsletter Powertrip had in its last issue quoted a source saying that Naidu would take a decision on contesting the Telangana elections during the weekend.
The TDP had contested the 2018 Telangana Assembly elections in alliance with the Congress. However, the partnership tanked and the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) won 88 out of 119 seats, leaving the grand old party and the TDP with 19 and two seats each. The BJP, which contested on its own, could win only one seat, while the All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won seven segments in Hyderabad.
After Telangana’s formation, the TDP still managed to perform fairly well, winning 15 seats in the 2014 state polls. The BRS, which came to power by winning 63 seats then, began poaching TDP and Congress MLA, and by 2018 only a few TDP MLAs remained with the party. Current Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy was earlier the TDP’s Telangana working president and joined the Congress before the 2018 state elections.
Naidu broke off ties with the BJP in 2018 over Andhra not getting ‘Special Category Status’, and became a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, over the last two years, the TDP has toned down its criticism as Naidu is reportedly looking to return to the NDA fold. A decision on that is likely to be announced closer to the 2024 Lok Sabha and Andhra Assembly elections.