Naidu gives short shrift to coastal leaders

GUNTUR: In what could come as a surprise to several TDP leaders, the coastal districts which were considered the party's safe bet in the past, lost out badly with party chief N Chandrababu Naidu dropping all but one senior leader, Ummareddi Venkateswarlu, from the politburo on Tuesday.
Sources said the party's poll debacle in the coastal region in the general elections appears to have made Naidu rethink on the continuance of certain leaders in the politburo resulting in drastic changes.While Uppuleti Kalpana of Pamarru in Guntur district made it to the big league under SC quota, Rajya Sabha member Nandamuri Harikrishna was retained following his brother and film actor Balakrishna's decision to join the politburo from Krishna district quota.
Ummareddi of Guntur was taken to fill the Kapu quota, Vysya leader and MLC Sidda Raghavarao was accommodated from neighbouring Prakasam district. The big surprise was the axing of party's general secretary and long-time associate of Naidu, Lal Jan Basha. Basha was part of the nine-member politburo headed by N T Ramarao in '80s. In fact, Basha was the lone general secretary when Naidu was elected president of the party after its split.
"The decision to drop Basha who has a good following among Kamma leaders is a shocker," said a district leader. Sources said Basha was shown the door to accommodate journalist-turned-politician Zahed Ali Khan.
At one point of time, the party was virtually packed with leaders from Guntur. Basha, Ummareddi and Yadlapati Venkata Rao were in the politburo, J R Pushparaj functioned as party vice-president, Kodela Sivaprasada Rao as spokesperson, Nannapaneni Rajakumari as Telugu Mahila chief and Dhullipalla Narendra was the Telugu Raithu chief.
Though Naidu frequently effected changes in the Kamma quota from the coastal districts, Basha and Ummareddi were retained in the highest body.
"Naidu is confused as the politburo has been filled with political novices like Kalpana, Nama Nageswara Rao and CM Ramesh. It's shocking that he ignored experienced leaders who have fought several elections," said a senior party leader from Krishna district. While senior leader Pushparaj, an SC, had to contend with a place in the state committee, the firebrand Kodela, who had aspired for a place in the politburo, was made an official spokesperson.