Former YSRCP Deputy Chief Minister Alla Nani (Kalikrishna Srinivas) is making a significant political leap by joining the Telugu Desam Party. Sources said Nani will be inducted into the party after this week’s cabinet meeting at a ceremony headed by TDP Chief N. Chandrababu Naidu. Leaders of the TDP in the West Godavari district have been informed to be present at the meeting, an important milestone for the politics of that region.
Nani, who has been in talks with TDP leadership for quite some time, is said to have been given the go-ahead to join the party without any formal promises. This comes after a period of speculation over his political future. While many thought he was considering a move to Jana Sena, it seems Nani has opted to be aligned with TDP.
Alla Nani is a long-serving Andhra Pradesh politician. His career includes more than a decade as MLA and minister. He had two consecutive terms from the Eluru Assembly constituency – initially for Congress in 2004 and 2009, and later under YSRCP after it came into existence. As he is from the Kapu caste group, Nani used to enjoy significant goodwill locally from the people of Eluru. However, setbacks in the 2014 elections did not mar the life of Nani politically since he regained his importance after serving as an MLC and winning in 2019 elections. To list a few, Nani held the post of Deputy Chief Minister in a Jagan Mohan Reddy government for two and a half years.
After losing in the 2024 elections, Nani resigned from the YSRCP and is expected to join TDP. This has led to some discussion, and even a rumor that other important YSRCP leaders from the West Godavari region may join TDP, including one former minister and an ex-MLA.
With this move, Alla Nani makes new waves in the political field again and will be really interesting to see how these are going to affect the functioning in the following months.