The humiliating defeat faced by the TDP in Kuppam assembly constituency in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, represented by party president and former CM N Chandrababu Naidu in the recently-concluded gram panchayat elections has completely demoralised the party leaders and cadres.
At a review meeting held at Kuppam on Tuesday ahead of Naidu’s visit to the constituency from February 25 to 27, the party cadres lashed out at the top leaders of the constituency for their inefficiency in leading the party to victory in the gram panchayat elections.
Unable to face the humiliating comments from the party cadre, Naidu’s personal assistant P Manohar, who has been looking after the party activities in Kuppam for quite a long time, announced that he was resigning from the post.
A trusted lieutenant of Naidu in Kuppam, Manohar said he had already informed the TDP president that he won’t continue in the post as he owned up the responsibility for the party’s loss in Kuppam.
“He told me to continue in the post, but I said I cannot. I will continue as an ordinary party worker. Naidu sir will have a new PA from Tirupati from March 1 to take care of party activities in Kuppam,” Manohar said.
Another senior TDP leader in-charge of Kuppam P S Muniratnam also announced that he was stepping down from the post. He said he had not gained anything from the party.
“I lost many opportunities of making money. I have no dearth of money and so, I don’t need to get sold to the rival party. I don’t want to continue as in-charge of Kuppam,” he said.
TDP legislative council member G Srinivasulu also refused to take the chair on the dais and said he had no right to accept positions.
“I could not get the TDP candidates elected in my own village and my own gram panchayat. I have no right to ask for any posts or positions. I will continue as an ordinary party worker,” he said.
Several TDP workers lashed out at the leaders for not taking the gram panchayat elections in Kuppam seriously.
“When the TDP was in power, all you people made a lot of money. But when it mattered, you did not show any responsibility. You did not come forward to spend even a single rupee,” they alleged.