The three-day visit of TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu to his Kuppam Assembly constituency concluded on Saturday amidst widespread resentment within the party workers against what they called lack of seriousness in boosting their sagging morale in the aftermath of the YSRCP’s landslide victory in the recent panchayat elections.
It was alleged that Mr. Naidu had limited himself to addressing mini roadside meetings and launching monologues at the meetings organised for the party cadres hailing from Kuppam, Ramakuppam, Shantipuram and Gudupalle mandals.
On the first day of Mr. Naidu’s visit, a senior party activist of Gudupalle mandal had attempted suicide after he reportedly failed to draw the attention of the party supremo and have a word with him when his convoy entered the district from Karnataka.
During the constituency-level meeting at Kuppam organised a couple of days prior to Mr. Naidu’s visit, the party cadres from Gudupalle had openly held three local leaders responsible for the party’s debacle in Kuppam – Manohar, Mr. Naidu’s personal secretary in Kuppam, P.S. Munirathnam, constituency in-charge, and G. Srinivasulu, MLC. Following the accusation, the three leaders had “tendered their resignation.”
“But there seems to be no clarity on it. Have they resigned to the party post, or to the party?” questioned a senior leader from Gudupalle.
Main demand
At all the meetings, the cadres had demanded a change in local leadership.
“But there was no response from Mr. Naidu. He was visibly irritated at our demand,” said another disgruntled activist, who was defeated in the recent elections.
The cadres lamented that they were ignored when the TDP was in power, and that those who had enjoyed power for decades chose to slip into hibernation after the party’s debacle in 2019.
“Mr. Naidu opted to interact only with those who won the panchayat elections. This has pained us a lot,” said a few others who had unsuccessfully contested the elections.
