Vijayawada: Calling TD supremo and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu a “U-turn, powermongering CM”, BJP president Amit Shah said he would try to return to the NDA fold after the 2019 polls once he realises that the BJP-led coalition was coming to power. But the doors of the NDA were permanently closed for Mr Naidu, he said.
Talking to party workers gathered at Vizianagaram from various parliamentary segments in north Andhra Pradesh on Monday, Mr Shah said that Mr Naidu was promoting his son. He added that the NDA government’s support for the development of Andhra Pradesh was 10 times more than what had been provided during the 55 years of Congress rule.
He said “U-turn Chief Minister” was an appropriate description for Mr Naidu as he had misguided the people of AP. “As soon as the Atal Behari Vajpayee government came to power, Naidu joined the NDA and left in 2004 when the Congress came to power. He is supporting the Congress which had insulted AP. He went beyond the party’s ideology on the basis of which the TD was formed by NTR. Now, when the Congress is no more popular, he is going with the Mahagathbandhan,” Mr Shah said.
He added, “Take a look at the career of U-turn CM. He started his career as a Congress MLA. Then, he joined NTR’s TD in his lust for power. He backstabbed the great NTR when he got the opportunity. As Atalji formed the government, he came into the NDA and enjoyed power. The NDA lost power in 2004 and he left the coalition. After being out of power for 10 years, he realised in 2014 the popularity of Mr Modi and came back to the NDA.”
Mr Shah said that 14 tasks in the AP Reorganisation Act were to be completed in 10 years, 10 of them have already been completed in the five years of the Modi government.
The BJP president said, “Since Mr Naidu has realised that people were angry with the way he was running the government, he is making efforts to make his son the Chief Minister. To gain sympathy, he put the entire blame on the BJP and distanced himself from us. I just want to ask Mr Naidu, why he left the NDA which gave Rs 5,56,000 crore to the state of Andhra Pradesh? Why did he join hands with the Congress which gave just Rs 1,17,000 crore?”
Mr Shah said that even though the PMUY scheme was not supported by the Naidu government, free gas connections and cylinders were provided in AP. He added that over six crore women had received free gas cylinders under the PMUY scheme.
