Stage Set For AP Mahanadu Tomorrow; Port City As Venue?:- The 36th Mahanadu, Telugu Desam Party (TDP)’s annual gathering is underway in the port city, Vizag after a gap of 16 years on Saturday.
The stage is set amid uncertainty over the alliance with the BJP for the 2019 assembly elections. Having hosted the three day meeting way back in 2001, the port city too has its own concerns. The primary among them, is of losing the tag as being the number one city in the Andhra region to Amaravati, which is in the making as well as facing the threat of the port city being an IT hub, slipping away from its hands.
As per the TDP sources, the AP CM Chandrababu Naidu chose Vizag as the venue for Mahanadu, mainly to assure its residents that that the development of Amaravati would not be at the cost of Vizag.
A top leader reported as saying, “the announcement would be made official, when one among the 11 resolutions be passed on Monday, the last day of the meeting. The resolution would be titled, “Decentralisation-14 Smart Cities”. This is the first time that such a resolution will be passed in Mahanadu as we want to tell people that our focus is on urbanizing the entire state and not just the capital area. And for this, the port city is the ideal place to make this clear.”
Among the other resolutions, one will be on Amaravati. Overall, 30 resolutions including 8 on Telangana are expected to be passed during the three-day event held to coincide with the birth anniversary of TDP founder and former chief minister N T Rama Rao. Around 50,000 delegates are expected to accommodate the Andhra University grounds, the venue for the meet.
However, the ruling party is disappointed because, though a lot of efforts were made to develop Vizag after Cyclone Hudhud, including ensuring that several industries set shop here, the feeling on the ground still is that the port city is being neglected.
Party Central Committee Member, TD Janarthan, said “We have conducted Mahanadu in Tirupati and Hyderabad after bifurcation. Now, with decentralization being the focus both of the party and the state government, Visakhapatnam naturally became our choice for hosting the annual event.
“We will make sure the message of decentralised development reaches the delegates and the people of Vizag through them,” said Janarthan.
An MP, one MLA, a district level leader and four party workers will support each of the 30 resolutions. The TDP for the first time, had introduced a registration procedure for delegates who support a resolution being given an opportunity to speak. As with the previous Mahanadus, a notification will be issued on the first day of the meet for the party president’s election and the same will be confirmed on the third day.
And as usual, Chandrababu Naidu’s will be the only name that will figure in this exercise. Of interest this time would be the role played by newly elected MLC and newly inducted minister Nara Lokesh in the event.
SUPRAJA
