Nadendla Bhaskara Rao - 1982

After Anjaiah, Bhavanam Venkatram became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He also did not take Nadendla to the Cabinet. With all the political happenings in the state, Nadendla Bhaskara Rao wanted to start a new regional political party in A.P. Three more MLAs (Gadde Rattaiah, C.Narayana, Adeyya) joined with him. Nadendla resigned to his MLA post in the early 1982. But, other MLAs did not resign, since they felt why should they resign, when nothing has started.

One day, Nadendla received a call from Daggubati Chenchuramayya (Father of Daggubati Venkateswara Rao). He told Nadendla that, his brother-in-law N.T.Rama Rao wanted to talk to him. Next day, N.T.Rama Rao came to his house, and talked for some time. When he was about to leave, Nadendla told NTR that, he heard that, NTR was trying for Rajya Sabha seat. If he is interested in politics, he could join the regional party that they are going to start. But, NTR said, he was not interested in joining politics before he completes 60 years.

Once in a while, NTR used to call Nadendla and enquire about how many MLAs were with Nadendla, how much expenditure is he going to incur for elections etc. Nadendla used to say that, if NTR is interested in joining, he is welcome to join. Otherwise, why does he need this information?

After some time, NTR decided to join the party. They have decide to inaugurate the party on March 29th, 1982 at 2.15 PM. An adhoc committee was formed with Nadendla as the president of the party. They were discussing about the name of the party. NTR said, since ours is Telugu Desam, (Country of Telugu people), so the party name also should be Telugu Desam. After that, Nadendla proposed NTR as the president of the party. Many people rejected that, still Nadendla insisted on that, because NTR has a great fan following. It would be useful for the party.

At that time, son-in-law of NTR, Chandrababu Naidu was in Congress Party as a state minister. He was not interested in joining Telugu Desam Party (TDP). He used to say that, he can even contest against NTR at any constituency in Chittoor district. (Of course, He lost in elections against a new politician in Chandragiri constituency.)

They wanted to make an alliance with other opposition parties so that, votes of opposition parties would not be split. They met Puchchalapalli Sundaraiah and discussed about it. CPI asked for 120 seats, and CPM asked for 55 seats. People like Thathineni Prakasarao and A.B.K.Prasad talked to them and told them to take 55 seats for both the parties, and 240 seats should be allotted to TDP. But, they did not agree for it.

At that time, one news paper publisher (Ramoji Rao), who was in communist party some time back, interfered into the alliance procedure and stopped the alliance. He wanted the party to contest without alliance.

Menaka Gandhi started a party, Sanjay Vichar Manch and asked for 10 seats. But, TDP gave 5 seats to her.

When Dr.Chennareddy was the Chief Minister, Ramoji Rao invited then Governor Sarada Mukherjee for the inauguration of his office in Vijayawada. Chennareddy felt unhappy, and asked Nadendla to enquire about his Chit funds company, since there were few rumours about that. Eventhough, Nadendla does not have that portfolio, still, he enquired about it and gave the information to Chennareddy. Ramoji Rao came to know about this, and since then he did not like Nadendla.

Initially, NTR and Nadendla used to go together to all the places. Ramoji Rao suggested NTR that, they should go separately. If one is in coastal area, then the other should be in Telangana area. In 1995, after NTR lost his power, he criticized Ramoji Rao for giving wrong suggestion of going to all the places separately. (Ramoji Rao was also one reason for NTR to lose power in 1995.)

At that time, NTR did not even have basic knowledge of politics. He thought, those who sit on the left side are leftists, and those who sit on right side are rightists. (When Chiranjeevi formed his party, when journalists asked whether he is leftist or rightist, he used to give reply that, he is neither leftist nor rightist, but, he is a humanist.).

Daggubati Chenchuramaiah (Brother-in-law of NTR and Father of Daggubati Venkateswara Rao) was not interested in contesting in the elections, since he was not sure of the winning chances of the party. Because of his lack of confidence, even NTR also lost interest, and told Nadendla that he is not interested in contesting in the elections. Nadendla convinced him that, if he does not contest, then wrong signals would go, and since he is the president of the party, he must contest in the elections.

Nadendla contested from Vemuru in Guntur district, and NTR contested from Gudivada and Tirupathi.

From the book Naa Jeevitha Prasthanam (My Life Journey) by Nadendla Bhaskara Rao.