Telugu Desam Party senior leader M. Narsimhulu has asserted that the party should consider tie-up with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti as and when it discusses the matter of alliances in the next elections.
The senior leader said a majority of the leaders groomed by TDP founder N.T. Rama Rao were currently with the TRS and aligning with the ruling party would go a long way in instilling confidence among the party cadre. The assertion comes a day after TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu said the party would think about the alliances at an appropriate time and asked the leaders to branch out to villages for strengthening the party from the grass root levels.
Mr. Narsimhulu lamented that the TDP which was considered as an alternative to TRS in Telangana lost significant grounds over the past few months and said this was due to ineffective leadership. TDP-TS former working president A. Revanth Reddy in particular was responsible for lowering the image of the party in the public domain through his involvement in the cash-for-vote episode. Mr. Revanth Reddy subsequently left the party along with some leaders, but no one questioned his moves when he was with the TDP-TS.
“The party would not have suffered so much of damage had the leadership acted against Mr. Revanth in time and sacked him from his post,” he said. The Telangana leadership should also be faulted as it did not raise its voice against the harassment meted out to the party leaders like V. Pratap Reddy who was jailed for a month.
Mr. Narsimhulu recalled his association with the party since its inception more than three decades ago and said he was the lone voice in support of Mr. Naidu at the peak of separate Telangana movement. He urged the TDP president to spare more time to Telangana and take the responsibility of rebuilding the party by appointing capable leaders who could steer the party through the difficult times it was facing.
