TDP revamps party set up, appoints 25 new district presidents

Nearly 16 months after its electoral drubbing, Telugu Desam chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday reorganized the party in Andhra Pradesh, appointing 25 new district presidents, taking each Lok Sabha constituency in the state as a unit.

The TDP followed the ruling YSR Congress in this regard as the state government is in the process of creating new districts with each Lok Sabha segment as the base. For long the YSRC has had 'parliamentary district' units but it is the first time the TDP adopted the new model and increased its district units from 13 to 25.

Though there was speculation that incumbent president of the state unit K Kala Venkata Rao would be replaced with Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, another BC leader from Srikakulam district, the exercise was put on hold, TDP sources said. In the constitution of the new district units, Chandrababu Naidu gave a lion's share to the backward classes, appointing at least 10 leaders as presidents.

Youngsters like Kimidi Nagarjuna (Vizianagaram), Jyothula Naveen (Kakinada) and Abdul Aziz (Nellore) have been made district presidents while Chandrababu also relied on old heads like Nettem Raghuram (Vijayawada), Somisetti Venkateswarlu (Kurnool) and Kalva Srinivasulu (Anantapuramu).

MLA Yeluri Sambasiva Rao (Bapatla) and MLCs Gummidi Sandhya Rani (Araku) and B N Jagadeeswara Rao (Anakapalli) were entrusted responsibilities of the new district units. Former MPs Thota Seetarama Lakshmi (Narsapuram) and Konakalla Narayana Rao (Machilipatnam), former MLAs Kuna Ravi Kumar (Srikakulam), Palla Srinivasa Rao (Visakhapatnam), Tenali Sravan Kumar (Guntur), G V Anjaneyulu (Narsaraopeta), Ganni Veeranjaneyulu (Eluru), among others were also entrusted with new responsibilities in the overhaul. Simultaneously, Chandrababu appointed 13 coordinators for the 25 Lok Sabha segments, with 12 of them holding charge of two constituencies each.

MLAs Nimmakayala China Rajappa will look after Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli while another MLA Gadde Rama Mohan will be in charge of Rajamahendravaram and Narsapuram Lok Sabha constituencies, according to a party release. Former minister Nakka Ananda Babu will be the coordinator for Araku (ST) constituency.