Telugu Desam Party
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| Telugu Desam Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | N. Chandrababu Naidu |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Main Office | Road No.2, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad-500033 |
| Alliance | Just Unlinked from NDA |
| Ideology | Regionalist |
| Publications | |
| Website | http://www.telugudesamparty.org |
| See also | Politics of India |
Telugu Desam Party (Party for Telugu Land) 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. After establishing his party, he embraced Sanyasa (or renunciation) and vowed to dedicate himself to the Telugu people and to rejuvenate Telugu pride.
In the 13th Lok Sabha (1999-2004), it was the fourth largest party with 29 members.
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[edit] NTR's era
Rama Rao toured Andhra extensively in what was called Chaitanya Ratham (literally - a Chariot which spreads energy), his "election vehicle", and made use of the immense popularity of his on-screen movie image to win the next election. The party was voted to power in a record nine months after its establishment. TDP also won more than 35 (out of 40) 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.
The TDP was voted out of power in the state in 1988. During his first tenure, Rama Rao introduced many populist measures like selling a kilogram of rice for Rs.2.
Between 1988 and 1994, N.T. Rama Rao gave up his sanyasa and married a part-time journalist and student of political history, Lakshmi Parvati. 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. 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 new wife. In 1995, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, finance minister and the son-in-law of NTR (who is married to NTR's daughter through his first wife) overthrew Rama Rao's government by gathering a majority of the MLAs. The overwhelming consensus against his party 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 natural causes(?).
[edit] Naidu's era
After the demise of N.T. Rama Rao in 1996, his widow split 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 them to political oblivion in the subsequent elections. Chandrababu Naidu remained the leader of the majority faction, now recognised as the official Telugu Desam.
Naidu has expressed a goal of establishing Hyderabad and the state as a center for information technology. He wants to make Andhra Pradesh what he calls Swarnaandhra Pradesh (literally Golden Andhra Pradesh).
Naidu was the longest serving chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.
