BJP-TDP, YSRC in verbal slugfest in Seemandhra as polls draw near
Hyderabad: Campaigning in Seemandhra for the May 7 polls is getting bitter, nasty, up-close and personal with the BJP-TDP combine, YSRCP and Congress engaged in a war of words.
After a no-holds-barred offensive by BJP-TDP camp at Narendra Modi's rallies on Thursday against the YSRCP, it's now the turn of the Congress to hit out at the regional party headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy as the campaign scene has heated up in Seemandhra where simultaneous elections would be held for 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats on May seven.
"500 years ago, there used be a treasure trove called Golconda. Today, Golconda is with YSRCP," senior Congress leader and Union minister Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday in Kadapa, the home district of the YSRCP chief as he sought to know from where the party is getting funds for election expenditure.
"I want to ask where is it (Golconda)? TDP is the 'B team' of BJP," Ramesh said, taking a dig at the two parties who have forged an electoral alliance.
"TDP and BJP are the same party. Chandrababu Naidu (TDP supremo) is seeking votes in the name of (Narendra) Modi. Giving vote to TDP is same as giving it to Modi. I will even say that if needed, YSRCP can even go with Modi (in post-poll scenario)," Ramesh said.
Calling the "bluff" of BJP-TDP promise of development, Jagan Mohan Reddy alleged that the same combination during its 1999-2004 term has done nothing to the state and it has been playing opportunist politics by running with the hare in Telangana and hunting with the hound in Seemandhra.
"Just a few hours of after the polling was completed in Telangana region, the leaders went to Tirupati blowing their own trumpet of development, which was not there, and started singing the Seemandhra tune even as TDP and BJP have voted in for the Bill to divide the state and both parties have sought their pound of flesh in Telangana region," he said.