The annual conference of the Telugu Desam Party ‘Mahanadu’ concluded here on Tuesday on an optimistic note with N Chandrababu Naidu exuding confidence that the party will return to power in Andhra Pradesh after a gap of a decade.
In his concluding address to the two-day session, which saw passing of numerous resolutions on the present political situation in the State and the country and several burning problems being faced by the people, including corruption, Naidu said that the people were waiting for an opportunity to throw the Congress out of power.
“Whenever there are elections, the TDP will come to power in the State. It is a historic necessity. The people have already made up their minds,” he said.
On the national political scenario, Naidu said that Third Front will form the next Government with the TDP playing a crucial role in bringing the change.
He gave a clarion call to the party cadre to be ready for the forthcoming local bodies’ elections in the State. He demanded that the elections to the posts of sarpanch or village head should be held on party basis.
Naidu, who recently completed his 1,800-odd-km-long padyatra across the State, announced that he will be going on a “bus tour” soon as a public contact programme. He also promised that only those leaders who worked for the party will be given the party tickets in the coming elections.
This time Mahanadu was a relatively low-key affair but presence of Naidu’s only son and political heir N lokesh was its high point.
lokesh, who was likely to be given a formal role in the party affairs ahead of the next elections, was cynosure of all eyes as he shared the dais with the senior party leaders.
At the same time, the cold war within the NTR family also came to the fore as another young aspirant of a role in the party,
filmstar Junior NTR, stayed away from Mahanadu. He said he would have attended the conference, if he had received an invitation.
Marking the divisions in the family ranks, NTR Junior paid tributes at the samadhi of family patriarch and TDP founder NT Rama Rao separately. N Chandrababu Naidu, his wife, son and filmstar N Balakrishna visited the samadhi as one group.
Junior NTR’s father N Harikrishna also kept a low profile as he was unhappy that his son was not given any importance by Naidu of late.