Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said people could not afford to have the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) back in the saddle in 2029, as it was responsible for the crises that plagued Andhra Pradesh in 2019-24.

He called for adherence to the ‘coalition dharma’ to thwart the YSRCP’s bid for power, and said only cadres who worked efficiently for the party would be elevated to leadership roles, not those doing part-time politics.

Addressing the inaugural session of Mahanadu 2026 at the TDP’s central office near Mangalagiri on Wednesday (May 27, 2026), Mr. Naidu said the proposal made by YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to develop the Machilipatnam-Vijayawada-Guntur region as the capital of AP, after Parliament gave legal sanctity to Amaravati, was strange and indicated his mindset.

He said the YSRCP had failed on multiple fronts, and because of the havoc it caused in 2019-24, the coalition government found itself in a piquant situation whenever it approached the Centre for financial support. The present government was still undoing the damage done by the YSRCP, he said.

Mr. Naidu said the TDP had completed 44 years and never budged from its agenda of welfare, development, good governance, social justice, gender equality and reforms. He said no regional party had exerted as much influence on national politics as the TDP, and that the party was committed to working for future generations, not merely for elections.

The Chief Minister recalled that the TDP had fought against the dismissal of the N.T. Rama Rao government in 1984, had rallied behind him when he was sent to jail in false cases, and had seen many ups and downs but never deviated from its path. The party remained development and welfare-oriented, he said.

Since it took the reins, the TDP-led NDA coalition had focused on the tasks at hand, he said.

Mr. Naidu said the government had attracted investments of about ₹23 lakh crore and disbursed social security pensions on a scale unmatched in India, achieving much by overcoming many hurdles.