Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA

RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE

Research Response Number: IND31339 Country: Date: 15 February 2007

Keywords: India – Telugu Desam Party

This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Questions

1. Please provide information on the structure of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), particularly at the division level. 2. Have there been any recent attacks on members of the TDP, especially high profile members?

RESPONSE

1. Please provide information on the structure of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), particularly at the division level.

The Telugu Desam Party’s website provides a thorough overview of the party structure and its bylaws. The bylaws specify criteria for party membership and working membership. The structure of the TDP includes four committees: Primary level, Mandal level, Constituency level and District level. The Primary level includes the Village Panchayat, Municipal wards, City Area, and Polling booth divisions. The division of Yakutpura would presumably fall under the Primary level. The following extract illustrates the structure of the “Village Panchayat/Municipal wards/City Area divisions”, including the Executive committee which includes one Vice-President for each division:

Structure of Village Panchayat/Municipal wards/City Area divisions

All the party members in the limit of the GramPanchayat/Municipal Ward/City area form Village/Municipal Ward/ City Area General Body. In the Corporation (city) 5 to 10 booths combined together to form a Area Committee

All the members in the limit of the GramPanchayat/Municipal Ward/City area General Body meet and elect One President, one Vice-President, One Secretary, One Treasurer, 5 committee members from them. These members are called the Executive committee of that division [Researcher emphasis] One among the President and the Secretary shall belong to backward classes, and One of the 4 committee shall be a women

The Conveners of Village/Municipal Ward/City area Booth Committee will become the Executive committee members of their respective Primary Divisions

The President, Vice-President, Secretary and the Committee members of the Village Division are regarded as Village Division Executive Committee (‘Bye-Laws’ (undated), Telugu Desam Party website http://www.telugudesam.com/html/bye_laws.htm – Accessed 14 February 2007 – Attachment 1).

2. Have there been any recent attacks on members of the TDP, especially high profile members?

Since the Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) inception in the early eighties, factional fighting between members of and the TDP has continued unabated in . There have been recent attacks on members of the TDP, as well as attacks on members of Congress. An October 2006 article by The Times of India provides an overview for the reasons behind the “bloody rivalry”, referring primarily to the southern sections of Andhra Pradesh. The pertinent extracts follow in detail.

Before the advent of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the early eighties, Congress leaders held the monopoly. But with the rise of the TDP, factional fighting polarised into two groups and, over the years, has grown into a fierce and bloody rivalry. “The political allegiance is only a cover up. The core issue is the control over contracts, the thriving liquor business and the crores of rupees that the government schemes bring with them,” said a lawyer from the region.

The double murder case for which Gowru Venkata Reddy was convicted for life is typical of this rivalry. Apparently, sensing that his TDP rivals were planning to eliminate him, Venkata Reddy is believed to have struck first by eliminating E Ramasubbaiah and S Ambi Reddy of the rival party. Convicted for the twin murders, Venkata Reddy was awarded a 10-year sentence, which the current government pardoned on the grounds that the convict was a loyal and trusted worker of the Congress.

So far, those killed in such factional violence include a minister, a former MP, several MLAs, a public prosecutor, dozens of samiti presidents and sarpanches along with hundreds of ordinary party workers. According to an unofficial estimate, nearly 650 people were killed from the Congress side while 500 from the TDP met a similar fate. Historians trace the warlordism to the days of disintegration of the Vijaya Nagar empire which saw the rise of unruly local tax collectors.

…Liberalisation further widened their sphere of activity into highways and infrastructural projects and finally to real estate in the major metros in the state. Their dominance was such that no one outside can ever secure a project in the region. If they did manage to get so, they would be forced to sub-contract the projects to these factional leaders. With the Supreme Court quashing the pardon given to Congress leader Venkata Reddy, the Rayalaseema region and its cult of factional violence has once again snatched notorious national headlines (Nagaraju, J. 2006, ‘“Volatile” Rayalaseema under spotlight again’, The Times of India, 19 October – Attachment 2).

The following articles from the Indian media describe instances of recent attacks on members of the TDP in Andhra Pradesh. The articles sometimes specify – sometimes suspect – the attacks were carried out by Congress workers. The articles appear in chronological order as follows:

• On 10 June 2006, The Times of India, reported the murder of two TDP leaders allegedly by Congress workers, between Rentachintala and Gurazala, in Guntur district (‘TDP sarpanch hacked to death in Guntur’ 2006, The Times of India, 10 June – Attachment 3).

• On 3 August 2006, The Hindu reported that a “Telugu Desam Party worker was killed following a clash between TDP and Congress groups at Muppalla village in Chandarlapadu mandal in ” (‘TDP worker killed in clash’ 2006, The Hindu, 3 August – Attachment 4).

• On 23 October 2006, the Indian Express reported the death of two TDP workers and one Congress worker in Kurnool district. The deaths were as a result of “fallout of the TDP rally in Vijaywada a few days ago targeting Chief Minister YSR Reddy”. Twenty-eight TDP activists were allegedly charged with murder as police deemed them responsible for “attack[ing] the Congress supporters first” (‘Indian Express: TDP, Cong men clash in Andhra village, 3 dead’ 2006, Indian Express, 23 October – Attachment 5; ‘Three killed in clash between TDP, Cong’ 2006, Hindustan Times, 23 October – Attachment 6).

List of Sources Consulted

Internet Sources: Google search engine http://www.google.com.au/

Databases: FACTIVA (news database) BACIS (DIMA Country Information database) REFINFO (IRBDC (Canada) Country Information database) ISYS (RRT Country Research database, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Department of State Reports) RRT Library Catalogue

List of Attachments

1. ‘Bye-Laws’ (undated), Telugu Desam Party website http://www.telugudesam.com/html/bye_laws.htm – Accessed 14 February 2007.

2. Nagaraju, J. 2006, ‘“Volatile” Rayalaseema under spotlight again’, The Times of India, 19 October. (FACTIVA)

3. ‘TDP sarpanch hacked to death in Guntur’ 2006, The Times of India, 10 June. (FACTIVA)

4. ‘TDP worker killed in clash’ 2006, The Hindu, 3 August. (FACTIVA)

5. ‘Indian Express: TDP, Cong men clash in Andhra village, 3 dead’ 2006, Indian Express, 23 October. (FACTIVA)

6. ‘Three killed in clash between TDP, Cong’ 2006, Hindustan Times, 23 October. (FACTIVA)