Will not comment on TDP's internal affairs

Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D Purandeswari on Sunday refused to be drawn into making any comment over the turmoil in the Telugu Desam Party.

“The developments in the TDP are the internal affairs of that party. I will not react to the developments,” she said.

Ms Purandareshwari is the daughter of the TDP founder-president NT Rama Rao and she had quit the party to join the Congress along with her husband after her father was replaced by incumbent party president N Chandrababu Naidu.

She was talking to media persons after inaugurating a newly-constructed building of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Bhavan at a cost of Rs 6.81 lakhs in Babametta in Vizianagaram district.

Ms Purandareshwari however stated that she would campaign for the Congress candidates in the ensuing by-elections for the Kadapa Parliamentary and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies if the High Command Directs her to do so.

She expressed confidence that the Congress candidates –DL Ravindra Reddy and YS Vivekananda Reddy would win the by-elections. “The people of Kadapa support Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her leadership skills and implementation of promises made in election manifesto,” Ms Purandareshwari said.

The TDP had been rocked by internal squabbling, said to be over the successor of incumbent party president N Chandrababu Naidu in the recent past. However, an uneasy calm has been prevailing in the party since the past week.