TIRUPATI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah is learnt to have pulled up the Andhra Pradesh BJP leadership for remaining nonchalant and not extending support to the Amaravati Padayatra – “Nyayasthanam to Devasthanam”.
Shah on Monday interacted with state BJP leaders including party chief Somu Veerraju, national secretary Sunil Deodhar, national executive committee member Kanna Lakshminarayana, national general secretary Daggubati Purandeswari and other senior leaders at Taj hotel in Tirupati.
He asked them why the AP BJP that had strongly resisted the YSR Congress government’s decision to form three capitals are now keeping silent -- when all the other opposition parties have extended support to the agitation demanding that Amaravati be retained as the only capital?
Why did you not take part in the Amaravathi agitators’ protest rally, he asked the state leaders, and said BJP should be taking the lead in supporting the people’s issues.
Shah told his party leaders that people of AP will support the BJP since they were unhappy with the family-dominated regional politics. He said both YSRC and TDP had their weak spots. “Both are highly corrupt. The BJP has everything to gain because of its transparency and good governance, and because its central government is doing the maximum for Andhra Pradesh.”
Referring to the “misrule of the YSRC government, their mismanagement of state’s finances and huge corruption by the ruling party and opposition leaders,” Shah said the BJP should fight for the people’s cause and emerge as an alternative to them in AP.
He also noted that the AP BJP unit was lagging behind in projecting the party as an alternative to the regional parties. He asked BJP leaders to try and get the party to power in the 2024 general elections.
Speaking to the media, BJP chief Somu Veerraju said, “We are going to chalk out a route map for growth of the party in AP. Shah has asked party leaders to work at grossroot levels and help it gain power in the state. We are also going to give good positions and priority to leaders from other parties who are willing to join BJP,” he said.
Somu said Shah also assured them that the Centre will extend all possible help for rural development in AP.
Alleging that the municipal elections in AP are not being held in a democratic manner, senior leader Purandhareswari said the party would fight against the “anti-people policies” of the ruling YSRC. The Centre has implemented more than 80 per cent of the promises made in AP Reorganization Act, she said.
