Naidu retains old guard in politburo

HYDERABAD: Without effecting any major changes, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday announced the party’s new state committee.
Ministers T Devender Goud, P Ashok Gajapati Raju, P Chandrasekhar, TD Parliamentary Party leader K Yerrannaidu and senior leaders Lal Jan Basha, Mudragada Padmanabham, Y Venkat Rao, Suguna Kumari, Sivananda Reddy and Adilabad MP S Venugopalachary have been appointed as politburo members.
Venugopalachary and Venkat Rao are the two new faces while ministers N Anjaneyulu and V Sobhanadreeswara Rao have been dropped from the politburo. The vice-president posts have been increased to four from two.
MPs N Ramakrishna Reddy and M Jagannadh and party leader Ch Rajeshwar Rao were appointed as vice-presidents in place of V Tulsi Ram and S Satyanarayana.
Kala Venkata Rao was appointed as general secretary in place of K Srinivasulu. M A Sharief and R Prakash Reddy have been retained as general secretaries.
Two new posts of spokesperson were created to accommodate Umareddy Venkateshwarlu and C Ramachandraiah (both MPs) from the earlier committee.
Speaking to reporters, Chandrababu Naidu said that the contribution of leaders to the party’s growth was taken into consideration while finalising candidates for the state committee.
The new committee consists of 35 OCs, 20 BCs, 10 SCs, two STs, four minority candidates and 13 women.
Party legislator K Ramachandra Raju was appointed as chairman of the coordination committee in place of B V Mohan Reddy, while commercial taxes minister K Vijayarama Rao has been appointed as new chairman of disciplinary committee in place of MP G Sukhender Reddy, who was shifted as chairman of programmes committee.
K Rammohan Rao (MP) and former minister N Siva Prasad were appointed as magazine and publicity wing chairmen respectively. P N V Prasad is chairman of the technology committee, while Umareddy Venkateshwarlu is chairman of HRD committee.
Others appointed to various posts include P Prabhakar Reddy (analysis committee), P Yadagiri (reception committee) and Shamantakamani (finance committee).