TDP nominates Galla Jayadev to be parliamentary party leader

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday nominated Galla Jayadev as the leader of the TDP parliamentary party. Naidu took the decision after a meeting of newly elected MLAs and MPs of the party. Rammohan Naidu will be the leader of TDP in the Lok Sabha and while Sujana Chowdary will lead the party in the Rajya Sabha. The TDP won just three seats in the Lok Sabha elections while the YSR Congress Party bagged 22 seats. The TDP, which had won 15 seats in 2014, retained three seats with narrow margins. Industrialist-politician Jayadev retained Guntur seat, defeating YSRCP's M. Venugopal Reddy by 4,216 votes Rammohan Naidu, son of former Union Minister K. Yerran Naidu, retained Srikakulam seat, defeating D. Srinivas of YSRCP by 6,653 votes. TDP's Kesineni Srinivas retained Vijayawada seat also by a narrow margin. Meanwhile, Chandrababu Naidu was unanimously elected as the leader of the TDP Legislature Party (TDPLP) on Wednesday. Earlier, there had been speculations that Naidu might move to New Delhi even if the TDP lost the state elections, leaving his son Nara Lokesh in-charge of the party. But after their hopes of a non-BJP alliance coming to power at the Centre crashed, the TDPLP has elected Naidu as their leader. This means that Naidu will now play the role of the Leader of Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. The party meeting was held at Naidu's residence in Undavalli, with newly elected TDP MLAs and MPs, as well as MLCs and other senior leaders in attendance. Naidu will be missing Jagan’s swearing-in ceremony, which is set to take place in Vijayawada on May 30. Jagan had invited Naidu to the ceremony over a phone call. IANS inputs