Leaders from all parties lining up to join BJP: Kanna Lakshminarayana
Nellore: BJP Andhra Pradesh unit president Kanna Lakshminarayana claimed that politicians from the TD, Congress and even the YSRC were lining up to join the BJP attracted by the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking to this newspaper during his visit to the BJP office in Nellore as part of the membership drive in the district on Thursday, he refuted allegations that the BJP was targeting TDP leaders.
He said that the TD leaders had lost confidence in the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu long back but they had continued with him hoping that he would steer the party to victory in the recent elections.
“However the miserable performance of the party has opened their eyes and they don’t have any alternative other than embracing the BJP now,” Mr Lakshminarayana observed.
Responding to a question on the YSRC’s attack on Chandrababu Naidu and TD members in the Assembly on a daily basis, he observed that both the YSRC and TD had the same characteristics and Chandrababu Naidu was paying for what he did when the YSRC was in the opposition. He added that YSRC was behaving just like any other regional party including the TD.
Stressing that technical issues were coming in the way to sanction Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh and that the BJP’s stand was the same since 2014, he alleged that parties were still using the subject for political gains. He said that AP would get only Rs 5,000 crore if SCS was granted but the Centre had already given Rs 16,000 crore to the state.
According to Mr Lakshminarayana, BJP would contest in all the local body elections and maintained that the BJP was going to be the only alternative in AP.
Attributing the poor performance of the BJP in the 2019 elections in AP to propaganda by opposition parties between 2014 and 2019, he said people realised this and they were in favour of the BJP now.
Expressing concern over the major loss to horticulture crops in SPSR Nellore district because of drought conditions, he demanded that the state government rescue farmers and take steps to protect the standing crops.
He alleged that there was a vast difference between the promises and implementation of the YSRC government. He also alleged that police rule prevailed at the field level.
