Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is following in the footsteps of Telangana state Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to embarrass Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in the ensuing elections.
In the recent Telangana Assembly elections, which his party won, Chief Minister Rao branded Mr Naidu as anti-Telangana (Mr Naidu was not in favour of the separate state), thus playing with Telangana sentiments.
Now Mr Modi is invoking founder president of the Telugu Desam, N.T. Rama Rao’s sentiment in the people of Andhra Pradesh to embarrass Mr Naidu in the ensuing elections.
A couple of days ago in a video conference with BJP workers of Tamil Naidu, Mr Modi criticised Mr Naidu for betraying NTR by joining hands with the Congress from which NTR split to form the new party.
Till a year ago, Mr Naidu was a strong critic of the Congress. In 2017, he called Congress matriarch Sonia Gandhi “Sonia Godse”” and said that the Congress should be buried. He called on farmers to come onto the streets with swords to kill the Congress and said the party is shani for country.
With the shift in political fortunes, Mr Naidu allied with the Congress to fight the recent Assembly elections in Telangana. His opponents, who now include the Prime Minister, have taken advantage of this volte face to allege that this new alliance is a betrayal of the Telugu Desam’s most revered leader, the late NTR.
Mr Modi said that NTR launched the Telugu Desam to counter the Congress and it is a sheer political opportunism that has made Mr Naidu join hands with the Congress now, betraying NTR.
Mr Naidu has called these remarks of the Prime Minister “atrocious”.
It is likely that the Telugu Desam and the Congress will be in alliance in the ensuing parliamentary elections.
In Andhra Pradesh the appeal of NTR is much greater than it was in Telangana, and the BJP wants to cash in on this NTR sentiment in a big way to embarrass Mr Naidu.
To counter the criticism of the Telugu Desam allying with its one-time foe, the Congress, TD leadership is giving the narrative a new twist.
Telugu Desam leaders are now saying that the founder of their party, N.T. Rama Rao launched the Telugu Desam not against the Congress, but against the dictatorial attitude of the Centre towards the states.
The party leaders have started this campaign from Monday in the party’s attempt to defend its decision to ally with the Congress.
