Telangana TDP leaders want separate unit

Senior leaders from the region—Nagam Janarthan Reddy, Errabelli Dayakara Rao and Kadiam Srihari—not only boycotted Naidu's meeting but also refused to speak to him.

Naidu’s efforts to convene a meeting of his party's leadership to discuss the formation of Telangana Coordination Committee at his Jubilee Hills residence on Sunday failed to attract regional leaders. Telangana leaders did not attend the meeting. Leaders from Seema Andhra, including Devender Goud, L Ramana, Ramesh Rathod, Nama Nageswara Rao, Motkupalli Narsimhulu, amde it to the meeting.

In a showdown with Naidu, Nagam Janarthan Reddy organised a parallel meeting at his residence, attended by the party’s regional figures Gampa Govardhan, Jaipal Yadav and Revuri Prakash Reddy, which decided to put pressure on the TDP President to establish a separate party outfit in Telangana.

“We are not ready to accept a coordination committee. We will accept only a separate unit for Telangana,” a leader told Deccan Herald.

The Nagam group, which has earlier set up a separate Forum for Telangana, now feels that the proposed five-member coordination committee for Telangana will be full of Naidu's men and will serve no purpose.

However, Naidu met Errabelli with two rebels in the evening. A furious Naidu said to have warned Errabelli that the behaviour of the senior leaders is damaging the party’s image.