Telugu Desam Party


The Telugu Desam Party, abbreviated TDP, is a regional Indian political party active in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The party was founded by N.T. Rama Rao on 29 March 1982. Since 1995 the party is headed by N. Chandrababu Naidu, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The party's headquarters is located at NTR Bhavan in Hyderabad.
N. T. Rama Rao became the 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1983, within nine months of the party's formation, thus forming the first non-Indian National Congress government in Andhra Pradesh. TDP was the first regional party to become the main opposition party at the 8th Lok Sabha from 1984 to 1989.
On 16 March 2018 the TDP walked out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Democratic Alliance.
After the TDP's electoral defeat in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls held on 11 April 2019, the TDP's legislature party in the Rajya Sabha merged with that of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Ideology and Symbolism

The Telugu Desam Party follows a pro-Telugu ideology. It was founded as an alternative to the Congress hegemony, by emphasizing on the Telugu regional pride and a party for farmers, backward castes and middle class people. Since the 1990s, it has followed an economically liberal policy that has been seen as pro-business and pro-development party. The TDP uses yellow as the background colour for the flag with a hut, wheel and plough symbol in the foreground. A bicycle is used as the official party symbol.

Lok Sabha election history

The total number of Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh was 42. After the 2014 bifurcation of the state, there are 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh and 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana. The National United Front was formed with N. T. Rama Rao as chairperson. Under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu the NDA government was formed with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister of India. The TDP had G. M. C. Balayogi as the 12th Speaker of the Lok Sabha. TDP was the second largest party in 1984 Indian General Elections, winning 30 seats with 4.31% of votes, thus achieving the distinction of becoming the first regional party to become a national opposition party. But in the next election they were just limited to 2 seats out of 42, which remains till date as the biggest defeat for the party.
YearGeneral ElectionSeats wonChange of SeatsVote %Change of Vote %
19848th Lok Sabha30-4.31%-
19899th Lok Sabha2 283.29% 1.02%
199110th Lok Sabha13 112.96% 0.33%
199611th Lok Sabha16 32.97% 0.01%
199812th Lok Sabha12 42.77% 0.20%
199913th Lok Sabha29 173.65% 0.83%
200414th Lok Sabha5 243.04% 0.61%
200915th Lok Sabha6 12.51% 0.53%
201416th Lok Sabha17 112.52% 0.01%
201917th Lok Sabha3 142.04%0.48%

Vidhan Sabha Election

Andhra Pradesh">Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly">Andhra Pradesh

Telangana">Telangana Legislative Assembly">Telangana

List of Chief Ministers

National General-Secretary

Currently, there are 4 National General Secretaries, youngest person in the history of TDP to hold this position is Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, followed by Nara Lokesh, E. Peddireddy and M. A. Sharif.