Amaravati: Within just a week of the crushing defeat in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday (May 28) urged his party members to not be discouraged by the party's defeat.

The statement by Naidu came in the presence of wife Nara Bhuvaneswari and son Nara Lokesh during the celebration of the 97th birth anniversary of his father-in-law and party founder NT Rama Rao at the TDP office in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu addressed party leaders and workers after hoisting the party flag and asked them to not be discouraged. He further went on to say that the party founder brought honour and recognition to Telugu people at the national and international level.

The TDP president later advised party leaders to follow in the footsteps of NTR, who did not lose self-confidence after electoral defeat and played the role of a constructive opposition.

Naidu said that during the last four days many people came to him and said they had stood by the party for over three decades and would remain so even in future.

Andhra Pradesh's TDP unit chief Kala Venkat Rao, MP Galla Jayadev, senior leaders Kodela Sivaprasada Rao and Y Ramakrishnudu attended the celebration of the 97th birth anniversary of NT Rama Rao

The TDP faced the worst-ever defeat in the 15th Legislative Assembly elections against YSR Congress Party, which stormed to power with a landslide victory. TDP bagged only 23 seats while the YSRCP won 151 seats in the 175-member Assembly.