BJP opens its arms to embrace all in Andhra

Vijayawada: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday felt that the YSRCP government led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had so far failed to show any difference in governance as compared to the previous TDP regime.

Addressing party workers in Vijayawada, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the BJP had thrown open its doors wide open to all those who want to join the party and would go to the people with the slogan of 'Vikas' (development).

Chouhan said before the last general elections Chandrababu Naidu nursed the ambition of becoming a national leader and was seen in Delhi every alternate day and in the process the ground slipped from under his feet. He also dreamt of making his son as the next chief minister. "People across the country now do not want family rule and that is why the BJP could get such huge majority," he said. He further said that many TDP leaders were looking towards BJP.

Stating that many TDP leaders are ready to join the BJP, Chouhan said the party has no objections and will take the leaders from other parties to strengthen its base in Andhra Pradesh. While the TDP will vanish in Andhra, the Congress would disappear from the national political scene, he said. The BJP, he claimed, will emerge more stronger in the country under the rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP leader was here to participate in the membership drive programme in a village in Gannavaram.

He has assured the party workers that sincerity will get recognition in the BJP. The BJP will be strengthened in AP too along with other parts of India in the coming years. The party has set the target of enrolling 25 lakh members in Andhra Pradesh in the coming year.

Ridiculing AICC president Rahul Gandhi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the captain of a ship tries to save every passenger of the boat when it is drowning but strangely the Congress party president himself resigned from the party president's post.

Referring to the Special Category Status to AP, Chouhan said the Union government had allocated adequate funds to the state under the Special package. He alleged Chandrababu Naidu has asked for the direct payment of cash to the state instead of assistance given to the state in other forms.