At TDP meet, leaders blame Naidu Shining

It was time for some hard truths for TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu at the first introspection session held by the party after it was routed ...

It was time for some hard truths for TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu at the first introspection session held by the party after it was routed in the polls, with senior leaders complaining that the focus on one leader in the campaign and the exclusion of everything else may have backfired. With the media kept out of Thursday’s proceedings, party leaders gave vent to their feelings at the ‘Mahanadu’, squarely blaming senior leaders, especially ministers and MPs, for the party’s disastrous performance. Naidu confessed his decision to go for early polls may have been wrong, but that in no way cooled tempers at NTR Bhavan.

There was another surprising admission by the TDP leaders: that they may have under-estimated the strength of the Telangana feeling. ‘‘We failed to understand the sentiment,’’ said ex-minister E Peddi Reddy.

Setting the tone, Naidu said that though the party had done a lot for the people, it had been rejected for reasons many of which remained unknown.

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However, senior leaders like M. Pedarathaiah and G. Butchaiah Chowdary spoke their minds on what they thought these reasons were. Pedarathaiah is believed to have made a veiled attack on Naidu, saying: ‘‘The party has reached a stage where for everything we had to depend on one leader, Naidu. Slowly we forgot to act of our own volition.’’ Chowdary, a five-time winner from Rajahmundry, was also critical of Naidu. ‘‘Over-projection of our leader may have benefited us in many ways but also caused harm,’’ he reportedly said.

While former ministers K. Vidyadher Rao, S.V. Subba Reddy, K.E. Krishna Moorthy, Y. Ramakrishnudu and Vadde Sobhanadreswara Rao were also expected to ‘‘bare their hearts’’, they remained quiet.

Party’s backroom boys—former union minister Ummareddy Venkateswarlu and Rajya Sabha member P. Prabhakara Reddy—also came in for criticism.When party seniors tried to dissuade some angry speakers from raising certain internal issues, Naidu, who presided over the day-long session, discouraged them, saying: ‘‘I want to know the real picture. Let them speak.’’

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