They fail to make a dent

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Many heavyweight leaders have either left or were expelled from the Telugu Desam in its 26-year history in Andhra Pradesh but not even in one instance did the party suffer any upheaval.
From Nadendla Bhaskara Rao to Vasantha Nageswara Rao and Parvathaneni Upendra to Toolla Devender Goud, many high-ranking leaders deserted the TDP over the years. But most of such leaders failed to make a mark on their own outside the party. The party continues to remain strong despite the setbacks as none of the leaders could cause any dent to the TDP image.
"In every instance where a supposedly powerful leader left the TD, it was clearly proved that the party was larger than the individual," a senior leader observed.
So, be it a Vasantha Nageswara Rao or a Jana Reddy or a KCR or a Indra Reddy, none could cause a bearing on the party, he added. A similar fate might befall Devender Goud, who became the latest to desert the TDP on Monday.
Nadendla Bhaskara Rao was the initiator of the first turmoil in the TDP, just two years after it came into being in 1982. He dethroned the party founder-president N T Rama Rao from the Chief Minister's chair in August 1984 and usurped the seat. In just a month, Bhaskara Rao had to make an ignominous exit and get axed from the party. Though he later joined the Congress and made it to the Lok Sabha, he never enjoyed the glory.
Later, it was the trio of Vasantha Nageswara Rao, K E Krishna Murthy and Kunduru Jana Reddy (the present home minister in Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's Cabinet) that revolted against NTR to quit the party and launch the Telugu Nadu party. The party died a natural death in no time and the trio plunged into political oblivion. Of course, Krishna Murthy slowly returned to the TDP fold while Jana Reddy and Vasantha took shelter in the Congress. After years of being in hibernation, Vasantha became the Andhra Pradesh Co-operataive Central Bank chairman in 2005 while Jana Reddy became the state home minister.
Parvathaneni Upendra had to bow out of the TDP following a conspiracy allegedly hatched by Chandrababu Naidu. Upendra was also the second-in-command in the TDP under NTR and served as a minister of state in the VP Singh-led National Front government at the Centre. Upon his exit from the TDP, Upendra spent a couple of years as an "unattached" member in the Rajya Sabha before formally joining the Congress. He had to be content with his election twice to the Lok Sabha from Vijayawada and eventually vacate the seat for his son-in-law Lagadapati Rajagopal. Though he hoped to become Governor of a state, the Congress left him in the lurch.
Mudragada Padmanabham, the Kapu bigwig from East Godavari district, too walked out of the TDP following differences with NTR but failed to make a mark later on, though he got elected to the Lok Sabha on a BJP ticket once from Kakinada.
Renuka Choudary, who is now the Union minister of state for women welfare, is the only leader who carved a niche for herself upon quitting the TDP.
In fact, it was the late P Indra Reddy who was the first to espouse the cause of Telangana upon quitting the Laxmi Parvati-led NTR-TDP. His untimely death in a tragic road accident cut short Indra Reddy's political plans. His widow Sabita Indra Reddy joined the Congress after her husband's death and went on to become a minister in the YS Rajasekhara Reddy Cabinet.
In all these cases, the TDP never suffered a jolt. It consolidated its position in Telangana in particular though there was some erosion of its base in the coastal and Rayalaseema regions owing to other factors rather than the leaders' desertion.