By Mohammed Siddique, TwoCircle.net,
Hyderabad : The movement for division of Andhra Pradesh and formation of Telangana state has received a shot in the arm on Monday with the No. 2 leader of main opposition Telugu Desam party T Devender Goud along with another former minister E Peddi Reddy quitting the party over Telangana issue.
Goud, who is the member of party’s highest policy making decision Polit Buro has also resigned from the state assembly where he was the deputy leader of the party, delivering a big blow to the party.
Goud, who comes from a backward community, sent his strongly worded three page resignation letter to the TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu charging him and the party with indulging in double talk and practicing double standards for different regions. His main grouse was that the party leadership had failed to respect the aspirations and sentiments of Telangana people to have their own state and rule their own destiny.
“For the last four years the TDP has been trying to project itself as a party not averse to Telangana. But having carried out the propaganda and winning a respectable number of seats in the recent assembly elections, the party leaders have started again shouting slogans in support of united Andhra Pradesh”, he said in his resignation letter.
He also charged Naidu with failing to control the leaders in the party indulging in loose talk against those supporting in Telangana. He was referring to the criticism against him by the anti-Telangana leaders with in the TDP.
The resignation, coming amid speculation of exodus of the Telangana leaders, has underlined the serious differences with in the TDP on the sensitive issue of Telangana. Now eyes are focused on several other senior leaders like Kadiam Srihari, Ch Rajeshwara Rao, K Venugopalachary , G Sukhinder Reddy and E Dayakar Rao. Rajeshwara Rao has come out with a statement supporting Goud but some others have lashed out against Goud’s resignation.
Goud’s decision will have fall out at different levels. For Naidu it is a big blow at a time when he is trying to return to power in the state in 2009 elections by organizing a 150 days long state wide Yatra. He has already complete the first phase of his Yatra. But when he is focusing on Andhra region, the party is getting weakened in Telangana.
Another implication of Goud’s move would be on the Telangnaa movement itself, which was largely run by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti till now. But after TRS’ debacle in last month’s by election, the movement apparently suffered a blow. Now Goud’s entry with a declaration to fight for Telangana cause has reinvigorated the Telangana supporters.
If Goud floats a new regional party on the plank of Telangana , as is largely believed in political circles here, then it will mark a realignment of political forces. Goud is reportedly thinking in terms of bringing all the pro-Telangana forces on one platform before the next year’s elections to mount a big challenge to the established parties including ruling Congress and the TDP.
The happenings in the TDP will have their own impact on the Congress party. The Telangana group in Congress will also be forced to take up the cause of Telangana state and force the party leadership to take a categorical stand in support of Telangana.