Popular YouTuber-turned-politician Teenmaar Mallanna has launched a new political outfit, ‘Telangana Rajyaadhikara Party’ (TRP), to fight for the cause of the marginalised communities of the state. A member of the Legislative Council, Teenmaar Mallanna, whose original name is Chintapandu Naveen Kumar, was recently suspended from the ruling Congress for indulging in ‘anti-party activities’. However, he has not resigned from the Legislative Council.
The launch of a new party came months after his bitter fallout with the Congress. In February this year, he was served a show-cause notice after he openly criticised and burnt copies of the state’s Socio-Economic, Education, Employment, Political, and Caste survey, a key initiative of the Congress government.
“There is a need for a political party for the backward classes in Telangana. Today, I proudly announce to my BC brethren, we no longer need to stand at the steps of the Congress’ Gandhi Bhavan, the BJP, or the BRS any longer. We need not ask for alms at their doorstep,” he declared at the launch of his party.
Mallanna sought to emphasise self-respect and empowerment of BCs as core ideals of his party, but also assured that the party would stand by other communities.
“We are not a party that stands against anyone. However, we will continue to fight for the rights of the BCs. I want to tell everyone that we will also stand by and represent the interests of the SCs, STs, and economically weaker sections of society,” he said, calling TRP “the party of the oppressed.”
He promised to fight for reservations for BCs in private companies. Acknowledging scepticism around such assurances, he stated: “We will not ask for what we want anymore; we will take what we want.”
The TRP’s website describes the outfit as both a political and social movement working towards building a “People’s Telangana.” It sets out a vision for a state free from hunger, fear, corruption, and prejudice, where BCs, SCs, STs, minorities, and the poor exercise genuine political power under accountable and inclusive governance.
“TRP aims at organising people's movements in a peaceful and democratic manner for educating the people on the one side and contest elections at all levels on the other and gain peoples mandate to establish a truly peoples government, that is power to the masses, the marginalised communities and all other who till now never entered Local or State or National Government policy and decision making bodies,” the website states.
“The aim of contesting the elections is to gain political power to bring the actual change in the laws, policies, development projects and programmes, that affect people and nature in different ways,” it adds.
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