Decision at appropriate time: Chandrababu Naidu

Amaravati: The TDP MLAs on Tuesday expressed a view that the party should end its ties with the BJP if required to protect the interests of people of Andhra Pradesh.

They disclosed their opinion at the Telugu Desam Legislature Party meeting held at the Assembly meeting hall at Velagapudi. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu presided over the meeting.

When the party national president and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu asked the leaders to raise the their hands and respond on ‘Whether they should continue with BJP or come out of the coalition?’, a majority of the legislators voted in favour of cutting ties with the saffron party.

Responding to the opinion of the party legislators, Chandrababu Naidu said that he would decide on the issue at an appropriate time. The party leaders hoped that he would give a message to the BJP in his speech during the general discussion on ‘Governor’s Address’ on Wednesday in the Assembly.

The Chief Minister also pointed out at the meeting that there was no positive when TDP leaders met BJP national president Amit Shah in New Delhi on Monday. He said the TDP was hoping that the Centre would release funds to Andhra Pradesh during the Budget Session of Parliament. “But now the party is losing even such hopes,” Naidu remarked.

The MLAs and MLCs of the party raised their voice against the injustice done to the State during the meeting. Earlier, while addressing the TDLP meeting, Chandrababau Naidu pointed out that the TDP government would present its fourth Annual Budget this year. This would be the last full-fledged Budget before elections which are coming up in 2019, he said.

Naidu asked the legislators to regularly attend the Budget Session of the Assembly. He called upon them to take part in the discussion on Budget in the House. The Chief Minister lambasted Opposition YSRCP for trying to create obstacles to development projects in the State.

“Instead of playing the role of a constructive opposition, the YSRCP is boycotting the House. It is first time in the history that an opposition party is not attending the Assembly. People have elected legislators to make laws in the House and ensure their implementation,” he said.

Earlier, Naidu flayed the Congress for bifurcating Andhra Pradesh without taking views of all sections of people. He said both Congress and BJP had played a role in the bifurcation of the State. The Congress had divided the State in an ‘unscientific’ manner, he said.

The Chief Minister said he hoped to build the State with the support of BJP as the Congress had caused injustice to Andhra Pradesh. But he regretted that though he had visited New Delhi 29 times to meet the leaders in Union govt, there was no positive response.

He said the Centre had asked the State government to execute the works of the national project Polavaram after Prime Minister Modi came to an opinion that the State would construct it effectively. However, the Centre failed to allocated funds for the multipurpose projects in its Annual Budget for the year 2018-19, Naidu pointed out.

He said the TDP kept quiet and waited for four years following ‘coalition dharma’ and hoped that the Centre would come to the rescue of the State instead of fighting from the beginning. “AP is seeking the Central government help so that it could achieve per capita income on par with all other Southern States,” he reiterated.

The Chief Minister pointed out that the Centre had so far allocated only Rs 2,500 crore for capital Amaravati construction while it had sanctioned lakhs of crores to other States for metro rail and different other projects. Hence Andhra Pradesh was demanding that Centre should project justice to the state, he said.

Despite several constraints, the TDP government was making all efforts to speed up growth in the State, Naidu said. The government waived farm loans to the tune of Rs 24,000 crore and allocated Rs 10,000 crore for DWCRA self-help groups. Naidu reiterated that the State government would complete the execution of Polavaram Project as per schedule.