Chandrababu Naidu re-elected as TDP president for the 22nd time

Visakhapatnam:  Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Monday was unanimously re-elected as president of Telugu Desam Party’s central committee in Visakhapatnam. The biennial election was held during the three-day annual conclave of TDP Mahanadu that ended in the port city on Monday. Party election officer E Peddi Reddy declared Naidu elected as president of the central committee as he was the only one in the fray after the close of nominations on Sunday. This was for the record 22nd time that the Andhra Pradesh chief minister has been handed over the party reins. [caption id=“attachment_3494821” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu. AFP[/caption] He was first elected as TDP president (of united Andhra Pradesh) in 1995 after he triggered a split in the party by dislodging founder-president NT Rama Rao from the top post. Since then he had been continuing as the party chief. Following the bifurcation of the state in 2014, the TDP declared itself a ’national party’ and a central committee was put in place with Naidu as the head in 2015. This is second successive election for him as the TDP central committee president. The party constitution was amended during this Mahanadu, empowering the central committee president to appoint or remove chiefs of the state units. Naidu took oath as the TDP head amidst lusty cheers by the party cadre. He vowed, as the TDP chief, to build a society free of inequalities.