Telugu Desam Party to go tough on Centre

Vijayawada: Clamour for severing ties with the BJP is growing in the Telugu Desam Party, the ally of the NDA government at the Centre. This was evident at the three-hour brainstorming session of the party MPs and senior leaders held here on Sunday. The meeting has decided to go aggressive against the BJP in Parliament on Monday so that it could blunt the attack of the YSRCP, which gave a call for state bandh on August 2.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is learnt to have told the MPs to adopt a two-pronged strategy on Monday. One to meet the Prime Minister and submit a memorandum explaining what has been promised, what has been given so far and how it falls short of the requirements. At the same time, the MPs have been asked to sit on protest in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the premises of Parliament demanding special category status to the state.

Naidu is believed to have told the MPs to press for a discussion on the special status in the Lok Sabha and if the government does not agree the MPs should stall the proceedings, if necessary. “Let not the BJP government feel that we are only 15 MPs,” he reportedly told the MPs.
If last-ditch efforts to extract any assurance from the government failed, the TDP would not hesitate to pull out of the government, Naidu is understood to have told the MPs. “For me, nothing is more important than the interests of the state.

Already, there is an impression among the people that the Centre had not kept its word. We should draw the attention of the Prime Minister to this. Our next course of action would depend on his reaction,” Naidu told the party leaders. In fact, during the meeting, two of its Central ministers Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Sujana Chowdary are said to have offered to resign from the Union cabinet immediately. But Naidu told them to wait for some time. “We will take such a decision at an appropriate time,” he is learnt to have told them. “Let us not take a hasty decision and give any chance for the BJP to point an accusing finger at us and turn the situation in their favour,” he said.

“A negative mood is building up against the BJP and let us wait till it spreads across the length and breadth of the state and take the shape of a mass movement,” he told the MPs. Later talking to the media, Naidu cautioned the BJP leadership of facing people’s anger if they betrayed the state like the Congress did at the time of bifurcation. “The Congress ignored our pleas and did a lot of injustice to the state. People have thrown that party out of existence. The same will happen to any party that would betray the people.” he said.

When his attention was drawn to the Opposition parties calling for state bandh, the Chief Minister said fighting for the special category status here is of no use. The decision has to be taken there (in Delhi) and if anything they (opposition) want they should do it in Delhi. Not here,” he asserted. He also sought to advise the Opposition to hold protests or any form of activity that would bring pressure on the Central government only in Delhi and not in the state which is already suffering because of the bifurcation.

Replying to a question, he said that he was not asking for any favours from the Central government just because he was part of the alliance. “I am asking for what was promised to the state both in the Act and in Parliament. It is the responsibility of the government and Parliament to fulfill the promises,” he said. Senior MPs like J C Diwakar Reddy and T G Venkatesh were vociferous in demanding that the TDP break the alliance and expose the BJP on the betrayal.