The opposition Telugu Desam party received another big jolt on Thursday with senior leader and former minister Tammineni Sitaram quitting its ranks and joining the Praja Rajyam party of film-star turned politician Chiranjeevi.
Just a day after the star held his maiden press conference to say he was coming into public life to serve the people, a member of Parliament of Congress, two senior leaders of the Telugu Desam Party and several other prominent figures announced their decision to join his party.
The errant TDP members stormed into the well of the House and continued to shout slogans near the podium in spite of repeated appeals by the Speaker to resume their seats. Raising his voice, the Speaker thundered "Enough is enough. Please go back to your seats. What tamasha is this? You are only making a mockery of democracy," before adjourning the House.
Breaking his silence on the Telangana issue, Kadapa Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday said he stands for a united Andhra Pradesh and alleged that the Telugu Desam Party and its chief N Chandrababu Naidu were responsible for the current situation in the state.
Piqued over hints from TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu that he might not be as committed to a separate Telangana state as earlier, several senior party leaders from the region have come out in the open in defiance. On the one hand, TDP legislators in Andhra and Rayala Seema region have gone on fast unto death in protest against Telangana state and more are joining their ranks, the party's legislators from Telangana are threatening to take the warpath.
The number of Congress MPs to resign to protest against the Centre's decision to carve out a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh has gone up to three, while 90 MLAs from Congress, Telugu Desam Party and Praja Rajyam have also resigned. Two TDP MPs have also submitted their resignation.
M Jagnnadham, one of the two rebel Telugu Desam Party members of Lok Sabha, has been expelled from the party for violating the party whip and casting vote in support of the United Progressive Alliance government in Parliament on Tuesday.
Telugu Desam party is facing a storm in Andhra Pradesh. Within days of party's most influential leader in Telangana region, T Devender Goud, quitting its ranks to form his own party, the TDP has loss yet another strong leader -- this time in the Rayala Seema region.
Lakshmi Parvathy, wife of the TDP founder late NT Rama Rao, has warned popular Telugu actor and NTR's grand son Junior NTR against campaigning for Chandrababu Naidu, saying it will destroy his future forever.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a key partner of the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), on Friday dismissed as "speculative" media reports suggesting that Samajwadi Party may come out in support of the Indo-US nuclear deal and bail out the Congress-led UPA government.
A backward class leader from neighbouring Ranga Reddy district, Goud -- who is also a member of the party's politburo -- had been mounting pressure on the leadership for an early decision on the demand for a separate Telangana state. The former minister had, off late, emerged a rallying point for protagonists of separate Telangana state within the TDP.
In a bid to out-do the ruling Congress party and others in populist promises, the main opposition Telugu Desam party on Thursday announced that if it comes to power in the next month's elections to the state assembly, it will provide a colour television set to each poor family in Andhra Pradesh.
T Devender Goud the TDP's senior most and influential leader in the Telangana region has dropped hints of his intention to quit the party over the Telangana issue.
The Congress and the Grand Alliance of the Telugu Desam Party, the Telengana Rashtra Samithi, the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Communist Party of India are expected to be locked in a direct contest for electoral supremacy in Andhra Pradesh, with Praja Rajyam Party likely to emerge as a dark horse with its chief Chiranjeevi hoping to do an Obama with his 'change' mantra.
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, a key ally of the previous Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, today said his Telugu Desam Party will never help L K Advani become Prime Minister nor support any BJP government at the Centre.
The seat sharing has become the biggest challenge before the four party Grand Alliance led by the Telugu Desam party. The TDP president, N Chandrababu Naidu is under tremendous pressure from his partners' demand for a larger number of Lok Sabha and assembly seats.
A young Congress candidate has created history in the Andhra Pradesh assembly bypolls by securing a previously unheard of majority of 1,92000 votes. P Vishnuvardhan Reddy of Congress, who was fielded from Khairatabad assembly constituency after the death of his father P Janardhan Redddy, a popular leader, won the seat with a massive margin by defeating his nearest rival of Lok Satta Party.
An increased political role for the family members of Telugu matinee idol the late N T Rama Rao, in the Telugu Desam Party, became evident with their joint participation on Wednesday, in the 86th birth anniversary function, of the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister.
K Venkatappa Naidu, a TDP leader facing several criminal cases, his brother, two gunmen and four other associates died at Bodanuru village in the faction-ridden district when some bombs exploded soon after their vehicle collided against a lorry, the police said. It was not clear how the explosion occurred. Police are looking into whether the bombs being carried in the vehicle exploded or there was any attack from outside.
The Congress and NCP are partners for a decade but both share the same political and ideological space but compete for growth. That implies one trying to grow at the expense of the other partner. Which, in turn, means identifying seats which can be assuredly won, improving the hit-rate so that when the final tally comes in, claims can be made about the which of the two is leading the other.
In a letter to the prime minister, he had demanded Dr Singh to visit Mudigonda village to console the families of the police firing victims.
As soon as the Assembly commenced its sitting at 8.30 am, Speaker K R Suresh Reddy disallowed the adjournment notices given by the opposition parties.
The grandiose plans of the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh to form a 'grand alliance' to ensure the defeat of ruling Congress party were lying in tatters as the recently established relations between the main opposition Telugu Desam Party and powerful regional party Telangana Rashtra Samiti reaching a breaking point on the issue of seat sharing.
Leader of the Opposition and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and TRS floor leader G Vijayarama Rao were among those suspended.
Naidu set out on the yatra in a specially built campaign bus from Matammagudi (local temple) in a Dalit colony in Rayalapuram village in his native Chittoor district, after seeking divine blessings of Lord Venkateswara at the famed Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam. With the next Assembly elections barely a year away, Naidu is undertaking the marathon yatra to dethrone the Congress regime led by Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. Naidu's yatra will enter Nalgonda district from Guntur.
Andhra Pradesh Governor N D Tewari on Thursday described the tragic death of Chief Minister Y S Rajshekhera Reddy and four others in a helicopter crash, approximately 40 nautical miles east of Kurnool, as one of the saddest moments in his career, and added that it would take him some time to recover from it.Telugu Desam Party leader Yerran Naidu said, "We are shocked by YSR's death"."He was a very hands-on chief minister," said Renuka Chowdhury.
The Left parties and Telugu Desam Party jointly staged a protest at Indira Park in Hyderabad on Thursday in protest against the failure of Andhra Pradesh and Central governments in controlling the abnormal hike in the prices of essential commodities. The parties vowed to take up 'serious agitation' in future if the governments failed to act swiftly to control the price rise.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned briefly on Wednesday as Samajwadi Party, Telugu Desam Party and All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam members demanded Finance Minister P Chidambaram's resignation over certain references in a book on stock market.
It may be recalled that at the time of the last Presidential elections in 2002, Naidu had worked for evolving a consensus on the candidature of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam while the Left parties had fielded Mrs Lakshmi Sahgal.
Union Minister of State for Mines T Subbarami Reddy, Advisor on Public Affairs Dr K V P Ramachandra Rao and Telugu Desam Party founder N T Rama Rao's son Nandamuri Harikrishna are among the six candidates who filed their nominations on Saturday for Rajya Sabha biennial elections from Andhra Pradesh slated for March 26.
Accusing the UPA government of all-round failure, he said the people were yearning for a genuine alternative that was committed to the welfare of the poor.
The Communist Party of India announced alliance with main opposition Telugu Desam Party for assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh scheduled to be held early next year saying the main objective of such a tie-up is to defeat ruling Congress.
Chinna Reddy had accused Janardhan Reddy of damaging his reputation during a general body meeting of the Mahbubnagar zilla parishad on February 17, 2002. Janardhan Reddy was a minister in the TDP government at that time while Chinna Reddy was an MLA from the Congress.
The stage is set for the Telugu Desam Party's (TDP) much-publicised mega event, 'Yuva Garjana', to be held on the National Highway between Vijaywada and Guntur on Wednesday.
Trouble began when the Speaker disallowed adjournment notices on the multi-crore rupee scam relating to misappropriation of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan funds amounting to 40 crore.
All public examinations scheduled for Wednesday would be postponed to a later date, Backward Classes Welfare Minister D Srinivas told reporters here.
The meeting also discussed possibilities of forming a non-BJP government including regional parties with the support of the Congress.
As a precursor to his political entry, Balakrishna on Friday inaugurated an 'Annadanam' (mass feeding) programme at the charitable trust named after his mother late Basava Tarakam, on Thursday. Replying to a query, he vowed to work for regaining the glory of TDP. He would participate in TDP's youth convention at Guntur later this month.
The film stars in Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu's family have rallied together to counter the growing political threat from actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi. At a closed door meeting between Naidu and the four film stars in his family on Sunday, a strategy was chalked out to take on Chiranjeevi in the next elections. The meeting was attended by popular actor Balakrishna, his brother TDP MP and actor Harikrishna and film star sons NTR Junior and Kalyan Ram.
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