The Socialist Democratic Party was a short-lived

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The SDP was founded on 20 May 1959 through the merger of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and the Socialist Unity Faction. The founding convention of the party took place in

Tenali Tenali is a city in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Tenali mandal and Tenali revenue division. The city is renowned for art, culture, drama and hence, it is called ''Andhra ...

. A 37-member executive leadership was elected.

Pusapati Vijayarama Gajapati Raju Maharaja Pusapati Vijayrama Gajapati Raju D.Litt. was an Indian parliamentarian and philanthropist. He was the eldest son of Maharaja Alak Narayanadev Gajapathi Raju and Vidyavathi Devi of Vizianagaram estate in Andhra Pradesh. He was born at ...

was elected as party chairman, Bommakanti Satyanarayana as general secretary and

Marri Chenna Reddy Dr. Marri Channa Reddy (13 January 1919 – 2 December 1996) was an Indian politician active in several states. He was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1978 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1990. He also served as the governor of Uttar Pradesh ...

as leader of the Legislature Party.Sharma, Sadhna.
States Politics in India
'. New Delhi, India: Mittal Publications, 1995. pp. 38-39 In total SDP counted 41 members of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, 28 from the erstwhile Democratic Party, 12 socialist, and one dissident from the

Praja Socialist Party The Praja Socialist Party, abbreviated as PSP, was an Indian political party. It was founded when the Socialist Party, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Rambriksh Benipuri, Acharya Narendra Deva and Basawon Singh (Sinha), merged with the Kisan Mazdoo ...

. However, the different groups that had merged to form SDP continued to exist as distinct tendencies. In June 1959 the

Swatantra Party The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party, that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly soci ...

was formed. The former Democratic Party assembly members deserted SDP and joined the Swatantra Party instead on 8 October 1959. Latchanna and Chenna Reddy became leaders of the Andhra Pradesh unit of the

. P.V.G. continued to lead the rump SDP, which was joined by PSP assembly members (in total the party counted 15 assembly members at the time). Soon afterward, however, P.V.G. Raju and his associates in the assembly merged with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

. The Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly declared the SDP dissolved on 10 December 1959.

References

Defunct political parties in Andhra Pradesh Political parties established in 1959 Political parties disestablished in 1959 1959 establishments in Andhra Pradesh 1959 disestablishments in India {{India-party-stub