Naidu keen to turn TDP into national party

HYDERABAD: In what could be seen as an effort to instil confidence among TDP leaders in Telangana, where the party's existence is being challenged by ruling TRS and national parties Congress and BJP, Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP boss N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday once again expressed his desire to convert the yellow party into a national party to expand its base beyond Andhra Pradesh.

During the party's central committee meeting here on Saturday evening, Naidu asked his party leaders, both from AP and Telangana, to work hard to metamorphose the party into a national one.

'I want to convert the TDP into a national party to make our presence felt at the national level. For this, I need your cooperation. My target is that by next Mahanadu, our party should become a national party.

In accordance with this, I will set up a national committee for the party and two separate state committees for AP and Telangana very soon,' Naidu was quoted as saying.

It is learnt that by repeatedly expressing his wish to convert the TDP into a national one, Naidu wants to create a sense of optimism among Telangana TDP leaders that their party would bounce back in the near future in the new state.

The TDP has been witnessing exodus of its Telangana leaders to the TRS ever since united AP was bifurcated. In the recent past, several TDP leaders in Telangana quit only to join the ruling TRS.

Leave alone some of the MLAs and MLCs of the party, even its heavyweight in the new state Tummala Nageswara Rao, who is from Kamma community to which Naidu also belongs, had joined the TRS recently, bidding adieu to the yellow party with which he had long association.

Following ceaseless departure of his party's Telangana leaders for the pink party, the TDP chief is understood to have decided to to harp on national party status to keep his flock in Telangana together.

According to sources, Naidu further told his party leaders during the meeting that he had decided to set up party units in neighbouring states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Odisha, where Telugu-speaking people live in large numbers by next Mahanadu, in the coming days.

Emerging from the meeting, party senior leaders Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy and Kalva Srinivasulu told mediapersons that the TDP's central committee's meeting had resolved to convert the party into a national one very soon.

'TDP founder NT Rama Rao had always dreamt of metamorphosing the party into a national party. His dream will soon become a reality. Our party chief Naidu has decided to convert the party into a national one. He has decided to set up a committee with party seniors to look into this issue,' said Ravula.

He further added that by converting the party into a national one, the TDP leadership wants to play a key role on the national political scenario.