Telugu Desam Party

Infobox_Indian_Political_Party
party_name = TELUGU DESAM PARTY
party_
leader = N. Chandrababu Naidu
foundation = 1982
alliance = recently broke with NDA
ideology = Regionalist, Fiscally Conservative
publication =
headquarters = Road No.2, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad-500033
website = [http://www.telugudesamparty.org/ http://www.telugudesamparty.org]

Telugu Desam Party (Telugu :తెలుగు దేశం Party for Telugu Land and people) or TDP is a regional political party in India's Andhra Pradesh state. It was founded by former Telugu film star N.T. Rama Rao on March 29 1982. Rama Rao wanted an alternative to the ruling Congress Party in the state.

In the 13th Lok Sabha (1999-2004), it was the fourth largest party with 29 members.

NTR's era

NTR, also known as ANNA (elder brother), toured the state extensively in what was called "Chaitanya Ratham" (literally - a Chariot which spreads awareness ), his "election vehicle", and made use of the immense popularity of his on-screen movie image( his image in roles of hindu mythological dieties- Rama, Krishna etc) to win the next election. The party was voted into power in a record nine months after its establishment on March 29, 1982. TDP also won more than 35 (out of 42) Lok Sabha seats in the 1984 Indian elections. This made TDP the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha as Congress won more than 400 (out of about 500) seats in that election and this was also the first time any regional party became the largest opposition.

The TDP was voted out of power in the state in [1983] . During his first term, Rama Rao introduced many populist measures like selling a kilogram of rice for Rs.2.

In 1994, N.T. Rama Rao gave up his "sanyasa" and married student of political history who came to write his biography . In this period he also played a significant role in national politics by pledging support to the then prime Ministers V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar (who formed coalition governments in the absence of absolute majority for their respective parties).

TDP returned to power in 1994 by winning 213 assembly seats in house of 295. Rama Rao was elected to be the Chief Minister for the second time. But his governing cabinet and his family suffered from what many political observers saw, as "unconstitutional interference in affairs" by his second wife. In 1995, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, finance minister and the third son-in-law of NTR (who is married to NTR's daughter- Bhuvaneswari, through his(NTR's) first wife (Bhasava Tharakam)) overthrew Rama Rao's government by gathering a majority of the MLAs in September 1995. This is known as Viceroy Hotel Coup. The overwhelming consensus against his group led the Election Commission to recognize a break-away faction under the party's original name. NTR, the founder of the party, had to rename what was left of the party as "NTR TDP". He vowed to go to the people, seeking a fresh mandate after this humiliation. However, within a year, he died of heart attack on January 16,1996.

On October 9, 2008, TDP announced a major shift in it's policy towards Telangana. The polit buro of TDP, after long rounds of discussion, decided that it would favour a seperate state for Telangana. Previously, TDP strongly opposed the seperate state as it stood for a unified Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu's era

After the demise of N.T. Rama Rao in 1996, his widow led the minority party again in the face of other opponents who were claiming to inherit his legacy. However, the infighting, fragmentation and the lack of a charismatic leader, led hr group labeled as NTR-TDP to political oblivion in the subsequent elections. Chandrababu Naidu remained the leader of the majority faction, now recognised as the official Telugu Desam.

First Term

Naidu expressed a goal of establishing Hyderabad and the state as a center for information technology. He strived to make Andhra Pradesh what he called "Swarnaandhra Pradesh" (literally Golden Andhra Pradesh). He contained the anti-social elements in the state to a very large extent and thus improved the Law & Order situation in the state. He also infused economic reforms, administrative reforms in the state and also citizens charter to provide faster delivery of services to people besides promoting the Self Help Groups for empowerment of women.In his first term in the office as Chief Minister he had done a lot to develop the power sector by opening the sector for Privatisation .

econd Term

During his second term in the office Naidu stressed for the need of better roads throughout the entire state, in which he had almost succeeded. Hyderabad city was well developed with fly- overs,public tiolts, and an IT corridor. HITEC City in Hyderabad is one of his major accomplishments. By this time he came to be known as CEO of Andhra Pradesh for the flair he had for reforms, especially in Information Technology. However he concentrated on encouraging investment in IT whilst he neglected the agriculture and rural sector. Drought conditions also fuelled the anger of the people. After the infamous assassination attempt by Maoists on October 1, 2003 , he dissolved the assembly on November 15th,2003 and went for early elections in May 2004. His expectations that the sympathy he gained from the assassination attempt and the support of women in Self Help Groups would come to his aid in the elections did not turn out to be true.TDP won only 43 seats in the elections

ee also

* List of political parties in India

External links

* [http://www.telugudesam.org/ Telugu Desam Website]

References