TDP chief seeks support in his fight for Andhra Pradesh

New Delhi: On a mission mode to expose what he called the “hidden agenda” the BJP government has against him, Telugu Desam Party supremo and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said that he will soon talk to regional political parties to seek their support on the issue of injustice meted out to his state.

Speaking exclusively to this newspaper, Mr Naidu, who was on a two-day visit to the national capital, said that the BJP’s only agenda is to grow in Andhra Pradesh and for that they wanted to “control” him, which was not “ethical”.

“As of today, I have started talking to all parties and floor leaders of all are supporting... Out of regional leaders and state chief ministers, I have only spoken to Mamata Banerjee since she called to express her support. I will speak with other political parties in the course of time to seek their support. I have to take this to the logical conclusion. We will fight, we will go on putting pressure. We want justice. The sentiments of the people are very important. He (the Prime Minister) has hurt the sentiments of the people,” Mr Naidu said.

The TDP supremo met Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday morning and is understood to have discussed state issues with the AAP chief and sought his support.

On Tuesday, Mr Naidu had met NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress MPs Jyotiraditya Scindia and Veerappa Moily and some NDA allies like Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal.

Though Mr Naidu skirted a question on a larger federal or regional front against the BJP, he said, “Whenever there is a failure of the Central government on various fronts, naturally people’s aspirations have to be fulfilled. You have to fight or take it to a logical conclusion”.

Claiming that the behaviour of the BJP towards his party was unethical, he said: “They (BJP) want to grow in Andhra Pradesh because of that they broke their alliance with us in Telengana. That is very bad. You want to grow at the cost of Andhra Pradesh?... You grow I don’t mind, but not by not doing anything for Andhra Pradesh… Because if they do (anything for Andhra) then my image will increase. So they want to have alliance with tainted parties and control me, which is not ethical”.

Mr Naidu, who was a part of the NDA during Atal Behari Vajpayee’s term, also said that even in those days, when he had 29 MPs, he never asked for anything. “I am not fond of power”.

“They are openly saying that they want to grow in Andhra Pradesh. When you will grow? When I fail? You want me to fail and you (the Central government) are doing that by tightening resources”.

The TDP withdrew from the NDA last month over the issue of Andhra Pradesh not being granted Special Category Status as promised when the state was being bifurcated. Following this, BJP president Amit Shah had in a letter accused the TDP of being driven by political considerations and not concern for the state.

The Andhra chief minister said the Centre is indulging in mud-slinging since he had demanded Special Category Status.