Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday ruled out merger of Telangana unit of the Telugu Desam Party with any other party, including the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
However, he did not rule out the possibility of a pre-poll or post-poll alliance with the pink party in 2019.
Naidu, who came to Hyderabad after a long gap, addressed a big meeting of party workers, who raised an alarm over the sad state of affairs in the Telangana TDP.
He allowed some of the party workers to express their feelings during the meeting. They said there was a serious leadership crisis in Telangana TDP. In several constituencies, there is a strong cadre, but there is no proper leader as majority of them joined the TRS or the Congress.
They demanded that his son Nara Lokesh or daughter-in-law Brahmani be made in-charge of Telangana TDP. They also threatened that they would have to commit suicide if the Telangana TDP is merged with the TRS.
Reacting to their suggestions, Naidu said there was no question of merging the TDP with the TRS or any other party.
“After the bifurcation of combined state, the party had to face a lot of crisis. In AP, we came to power and my primary duty is to protect the party and retain power there.
In Telangana, we fought the elections in alliance with the BJP. But now, the BJP has taken a unilateral decision to go alone and so, we have to fight the elections on our own. If necessary, we shall take a decision on forging an alliance with other parties at a later stage,” he said.
The TDP president ruled out making any of his family members as in-charge of Telangana.
“It is not correct to look at always my family. A strong leader has to emerge from you to lead the party and I will extend all possible assistance from my end,” Naidu assured.
