TDP president Chandrababu Naidu may sound poll bugle for 2024 from North Andhra region

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu is scheduled to address the key party workers in Visakhapatnam on April 5 (Wednesday). The party leaders say that more than 4,000 members would attend the meeting where Mr. Naidu would sound the poll bugle as the party considers the North Andhra region as its stronghold. The mood is upbeat in the TDP camp after it won three graduates’ constituencies in the recently held MLC elections. Party candidate Vepada Chiranjeevi defeated his YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) rival Seethamraju Sudhakar comfortably in the North Andhra region.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu is scheduled to address the key party workers in Visakhapatnam on April 5 (Wednesday). The party leaders say that more than 4,000 members would attend the meeting where Mr. Naidu would sound the poll bugle as the party considers the North Andhra region as its stronghold.

The mood is upbeat in the TDP camp after it won three graduates’ constituencies in the recently held MLC elections. Party candidate Vepada Chiranjeevi defeated his YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) rival Seethamraju Sudhakar comfortably in the North Andhra region.

The TDP, the main Opposition party in the State, also won the MLA quota seat after four YSRCP MLAs reportedly cross-voted, leading to the suspension of Anam Ramanarayana Reddy (Venkatagiri Assembly constituency), Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy (Udayagiri Assembly constituency), Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy (Nellore Rural Assembly constituency) and Vundvalli Sridevi (Tadikonda Assembly constituency).

TDP candidate Panchumarthi Anuradha won the MLC seat in MLA quota by defeating her YSRCP rival Kola Guruvulu, who hails from Visakhapatnam. This appears to have set the ball rolling for the upcoming 2024 general and Assembly elections.

The TDP has been enjoying a heft in the North Andhra region. There are 34 Assembly constituencies in the undivided districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagara and Srikakulam.

The TDP wrested more than 30 seats in the region when compared to the total of 117 it won when Mr. Naidu made a comeback in the 2014 elections held post State bifurcation. All the six Assembly seats in Visakhapatnam district were won by the TDP, making it a clean sweep.

However, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) ruled the roost in the 2019 elections and the TDP managed to win only six seats from this region including four from Visakhapatnam city alone. The TDP won only 23 of the 175 Assembly seats in the State and six of these were from the North Andhra region.