In a major blow to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu, the party’s Telangana State president L. Ramana resigned from his post and the party membership on July 9. Ramana’s resignation ends weeks of speculation over his exit from the TDP.
Ramana, a Backward Classes leader of some standing, has been a close confidante of Chandrababu Naidu for nearly three decades. In a letter addressed to the TDP chief, Ramana revealed that he would be joining the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
Thanking Chandrababu Naidu for supporting his political career for three decades, Ramana said that he was inclined to join the TRS because he wanted, in the face of changing political equations, to participate in the development of Telangana.
Ramana’s exit means that the TDP in Telangana is almost bereft of any leaders with mass appeal or political clout. The TDP has also lost a strong Backward Classes leader.
There are indications that Chandrasekhar Rao may field Ramana in the forthcoming Huzurabad Assembly byelection, an election caused by the resignation of Etela Rajender. The former Health and Finance Minister, once a close confidante of Chandrasekhar Rao, quit the TRS in early June after being sacked and dropped from the Cabinet in May over allegations of land-grabbing in Medak district. Rajender has denied the charge and has since joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and will be the saffron party’s candidate for the Huzurabad byelection.
Over the past few weeks, Ramana has been in constant touch with Errabelli Dayakar Rao, TRS leader from Warangal and Panchayat Raj Minister, holding discussions on his entry into the pink party. Reliable sources said that Ramana, who met the Telangana Chief Minister at his official residence on the night of July 8, is hoping to garner the 30,000 votes of the Padmashali community in the constituency.
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