Andhra Pradesh Elections 2009

NTR's era

NTR, toured the state extensively in what was called Chaitanya Ratham (literally - a Chariot which spreads awareness ), his "election vehicle", and made use of the immense popularity of his on-screen movie image to win the next election. The party was voted into power in a record nine months after its establishment on March 29, 1982. TDP also won more than 35 (out of 42) Lok Sabha seats in the 1984 Indian elections. This made TDP the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha as the Indian National Congress won more than 400 (out of about 500) seats to win the election. This was the first time that any regional party became the largest opposition party in India

The TDP was voted to power in the State of Andhra Pradesh in [[1983]. During his first term, Rama Rao introduced many populist measures like selling a kilogram of rice for Rs.2.

In this period TDP also played a significant role in national politics by pledging support to the then prime Ministers V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar (who formed coalition governments in the absence of absolute majority for their respective parties).

TDP returned to power in 1994 by winning 213 Assembly seats out of 295 seats. Rama Rao was elected to be the Chief Minister for the second time, but his governing cabinet and family suffered from what many political observers saw, as "unconstitutional interference in affairs" by his second wife. In 1995, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, finance minister and the third son-in-law of NTR (who is married to NTR's daughter- Bhuvaneswari, through his(NTR's) first wife (Bhasava Tharakam)) overthrew Rama Rao's government by gathering a majority of the MLAs in September 1995. The overwhelming consensus against his group led the Election Commission to recognize a break-away faction under the party's original name. NTR, the founder of the party, had to rename what was left of the party as "NTR TDP". He vowed to go to the people, seeking a fresh mandate after this humiliation. However, within a year, he died of a heart attack on January 18,1996.

On October 9, 2008, TDP announced a major shift in its policy towards Telangana. The politburo of TDP, after long rounds of discussion, decided that it would favour a separate state for Telangana. Previously, TDP strongly opposed the separate state as it stood for a unified Andhra Pradesh.

TDP BACK TO Basics

TDP lost its power to the Congress in the 2004 State elections. It was a landslide win for the Congress at that time. TDP back to basics and they even concentrating on the route level. The organized a " Yuvagarjana" On November 5 with the huge gathering. TDP Formed the " Maha Kutami" In state level and "Third Front" in national level for the alternative for UPA and NDA.