Telangana TDP left leaderless after Kasani exit over Chandrababu Naidu ‘ceding space to Jana Sena’

Kasani said he and the party workers in Telangana were “fully prepared” to contest the Assembly polls, but the TDP top brass, including Naidu, did not respond positively and instead allowed Jana Sena Party (JSP) to contest in the state.

Naidu had conveyed to Kasani last week that the TDP will not contest in the Telangana polls when the latter met the party supremo at Rajamahendravaram Central Prison, where he had been lodged following his arrest for his alleged involvement in a multi-crore scam involving the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation last month.

The JSP has said it would contest at least 32 seats out of 119 in Telangana, even as it is also trying to forge a poll alliance with the BJP.

In 2007, Kasani was elected as an Independent candidate to the Legislative Council in the then undivided Andhra Pradesh after 10 Telangana Rashtra Samiti (now Bharat Rashtra Samiti) MLAs extended support to him. He is also the national president of the Mudiraj Mahasabha, an association of several BC (backward classes) communities.

Starting his political career in the Youth Congress, Kasani came to the limelight when he joined the TDP in 2001. In early 2007, he resigned from the TDP and launched his own party, Mana Party.

In 2009, he contested on the Mana Party ticket from the Quthbullapur Assembly seat as well as Chevella Lok Sabha constituency, but lost the polls.

In the 2018 Telangana Assembly polls, Kasani was given a ticket by the Congress from Secunderabad as part of an alliance between the party, TDP and CPI, but he lost the election.

In early 2022, he rejoined the TDP and was appointed its Telangana unit chief by Naidu.

“I and other leaders felt that we have a good chance of winning a few seats if we contest in this election. There is a strong anti-BRS sentiment in some of the Assembly segments which other parties may gain from, but if TDP contested we could have easily won,” Kasani said. “When I conveyed this to Chandrababu and (Nara) Lokesh they did not react positively. They said that this was not the time to contest but I disagree. JSP is contesting because TDP is not, and JSP’s confidence comes from the fact that Pawan Kalyan also knows if TDP had contested it would have won a few seats and JSP is contesting on those seats. I feel we have lost a very good chance to make TTDP (Telangana TDP) relevant again, so I have resigned.’’

Last December, Naidu raised the hopes of the TTDP leaders after he addressed a public meeting at Khammam where he said that he plans to revive the party in the state. He said he would launch this process from Khammam which marks Telangana’s boundary with Andhra Pradesh.

In the 2018 elections, the TDP had won only two seats in Telangana – Sathupalle (SC) and Aswaraopet (ST) in Khammam – but both the party MLAs later defected to the BRS. The TDP also won several seats in Telangana’s local body polls.

However, some former TDP leaders charge that Kasani used the Telangana unit as a “platform to seek a ticket as he wants to become an MLA”.

“Mudiraj had hopped from party to party seeking tickets. He has lost badly wherever he contested; he came 6th in Chevella Lok Sabha in 2009. In 2018 he received half of the votes the BRS winner got in Secunderabad Assembly constituency,” one former MLA said.

With Naidu incarcerated and the ruling Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh filing several cases against him there, the TDP’s fate remains uncertain in Telangana. Following Kasani’s resignation, the party unit is now left without any leader in the state.

All senior TDP leaders in Telangana switched to other parties over the last several years. They include two-time Kodungal MLA A Revanth Reddy, the current state Congress chief; ex-MP Ravula Chandra Shekar Reddy, who had been with the party since its establishment; L Ramana; six-time MLA Errabelli Dayakar Rao, the current BRS minister; MP Tulla Devender Goud who was considered second only to Naidu; ex-TTDP chief B Narasimhalu; Nama Nageshwara Rao, former aide of Naidu; Sandra Venkat Veeraiah, Kuna Venkatesh Goud, and Lanka Dinkar,

Goud has distanced himself from the TDP after his Rajya Sabha term ended in 2017. Nageshwara Rao is currently BRS MP from Khammam and is its Lok Sabha floor leader.

Andhra TDP leaders said the party was now focused on fighting Naidu’s legal battles and since he or Lokesh cannot give much time to campaigning in Telangana it would be better not to contest the polls. “Chandrababu will take a call in some time about appointing another TTDP president,’’ said a leader.

In 2014, the Telangana TDP won 15 seats in the state, including 3 in Hyderabad district, 7 in erstwhile Ranga Reddy district, two in Mahbubnagar, two in Warangal and one in Khammam. In 2018, the TDP vote shifted to the BRS and its vote share plummeted to 3.5 per cent from nearly 14 per cent in 2014.