BJP not to bail out Naidu on loan waiver

• State BJP wants TDP chief to fulfil poll promise on his own, says party has nothing to do with it
  
• BJP ministers in the AP cabinet asked not to speak on loan waiver
  
• AP CM in a predicament with RBI and Plan panel too unwilling to help him
  
• Loan waiver will require `82,000 crore, Naidu is banking more on the Centre

Vijayawada: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the big brother in the ruling NDA at the Centre, is unwilling to bail out Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in handling the loan waiver. The BJP leadership disowns the loan waiver promise of Naidu to the farmers.

The meeting of BJP MPs and MLAs, held at Mangalagiri, on Thursday, had resolved not to speak on the loan waiver scheme of Chandrababu Naidu that would require around Rs 82,000 crore. The Chief Minister is looking to the Central government’s intervention to bail him out as the State exchequer has no funds to meet the demand. The Reserve Bank of India and the Planning Commission too are unwilling to support the loan waiver promise of the Telugu Desam. Though the Chief Minister had constituted an expert committee headed by Kotaiah to study the loan waiver scheme and suggest possibilities to implement it, he is banking more on the Central government’s intervention to settle the issue. The TDP and the BJP have fought the recent elections together and the former wants the BJP to honour the alliance ‘dharma’ by helping the other partner.

However, the BJP, which did not support the promise even during the poll campaign, is unwilling to back the TDP. According to sources, BJP State president and Visakhapatnam MP Kambhampati Haribabu had brushed aside the TDP’s request to the Centre for help on loan waiver. The meeting at Mangalagiri also expressed the same view that the issue be left to the TDP to handle it. “We did not promise the loan waiver. It was the TDP’s poll promise and the party has to find ways to fulfil it. The Centre, too, cannot intervene to help the TDP on this issue,” Haribabu had reportedly told the BJP MLAs and MPs at the meeting.

Interestingly, the BJP senior leader and the Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, too, had expressed similar views on the promise in the past. The BJP meeting also cautioned its Ministers in the State Cabinet, Dr Kamineni Srinivasa Rao and P Manikyala Rao, to be cautious on speaking about the loan waiver promise.

The BJP leaders have reportedly told the two Ministers in Naidu’s Cabinet to disassociate themselves with the loan waiver programme. The meeting also wanted the ministers to work to strengthen the party in the State. “The BJP should not suffer because of its association with the TDP. Let us make use of Modi’s image and the NDA government at the Centre to strengthen the party in the State. There is enough space for the BJP in the absence of the Congress,” the leaders have reportedly told the MPs and MLAs. With the BJP taking a ‘touch-me-not’ stand on the loan waiver, it is to be seen how Chandrababu Naidu would bail out his government from the issue.