N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh will continue at the helm of the Telugu Desam Party for another term of two years.
65-year-old Naidu was unanimously elected as the party president on Friday on the last day of party’s annual conference Mahanadu in Hyderabad.
Only his name was proposed as the leader of the party, which he had taken over from his father in law and party founder NT Rama Rao through a family coup in 1995. Soon after his election was announced by the election committee convener Kala Venkat Rao, Naidu garlanded the portrait of NTR prominently placed on the sprawling dais. later the party leaders lined up to congratulate him and present him bouquets and Shawls.
In his concluding remarks Naidu said that he was dedicating his life to the welfare of the Telugu people and urged the party leaders and workers not to let down the people who had time and gain reposed their faith. “Our party is committed to the welfare of the Telugu people irrespective of where they live”, he said while referring to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. He said while providing a very stable and result oriented Government in Telangana, the TDP will also come back to power in Telangana. lashing out at the Congress and the YSR Congress party in Andhra Pradesh, he said while one had betrayed the State by bifurcating it, the other was a party drenched in corruption.
Mahanadu marked the plans of the regional TDP to turn into a national party by contesting elections in more than one State. Senior party leader Y Ramakrishnudu, who moved the political resolution at Mahanadu said that there was no legal hurdle in TDP becoming a national party. “Even if its becomes a national party, TDP will retain its name and bicycle as its symbol,” he said.