ADILABAD: Taking advantage of the dissent that has cropped up in the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the Telugu Desam is looking to revive itself in Telangana.
It is said that ‘self-respect’ for the downtrodden will be the mantra of the party’s revival in Telangana.
The first-ever ‘Athmeeya Samavesham’ with TD’s senior leaders and leaders who joined other parties, will be held by party supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu at NTR Trust Bhavan in Hyderabad on September 14.
Mr Naidu has been spurred into reviving his party by taking the political situation in TS into consideration and feels that there is space for the TD even though it has been out of power in the state.
Mr Naidu will be inviting former TD leaders, especially from the Backward Community (BC) who joined other parties, to return to the TD fold and revive their political careers in Telangana politics.
Some former TD leaders such as Nagam Janardhan Reddy are showing interest in returning to the party.
The TD was perceived as a party that works for the welfare of the downtrodden sections, especially BCs, Dalits and women. It gave many young political leaders a start and bailed out the poor from the clutches of the landlords with social and political reforms.
Mr Naidu wants to interact with the Telangana TD leaders constituency-wise and spend time at the party’s office in Hyderabad every Monday.
The party believes that its cadre In Telangana is intact and is waiting for the revival of the party. Both its leaders and others who joined other parties are unhappy with their lot.
Sources said Mr Naidu wants to focus first on the Assembly constituencies where the party’s performance was good and it stood second and third in the 2019 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections respectively.
The party will also focus on the mandals where its candidates did better in the recent local body elections.
Party sources say that in the first phase, Mr Naidu will focus on old Rangareddy, Warangal, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, and Khammam districts and Hyderabad.
The party will constitute Assembly and Parliament level ad hoc committees with active leaders and also strengthen the party’s offices in the districts.
Former home minister T. Devender Goud, it is said, is very interested in staying with the party in this time of crisis.
TS TD president, L Ramana, said “We are making serious efforts to revive the party in Telangana by encouraging the cadre and second rung leadership.” He added that the TD is organising ‘Athmeeya Samavesham’ which is the first step towards the party’s revival.
Mr Ramana said Mr Naidu was keen to strengthen the party from the grassroots in Telangana state and is spending some time on that.
TD’s Kumarambheem Asifabad district president Gullapelli Anand and the party’s minority cell state president, Mohammed Tajuddin held a LS-level meeting with active leaders in Adilabad town on Wednesday.
