New Delhi: A Telugu Desam Party member in the Lok Sabha Tuesday came down heavily on the BJP, saying it was "breaking" the TDP by resorting to "coercive politics" and "weaponising" institutions.
Four of the six TDP members in the Rajya Sabha recently joined the BJP and sought merger of the TDP Legislature Party with the saffron party. "The BJP is breaking our party and driving out four of our Rajya Sabha MPs by resorting to coercive politics and weaponising institutions," Jayadev Galla said participating in the Motion of Thanks to the President's address.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, was using the slogan 'Sabka Sath' but on the ground and in Parliament and in state Assemblies the reality was different.
"What is the meaning of 'Sabka Sath'...The real meaning is you should take us along with you to build this great country. It does not mean that you should gobble MPs from other parties....No party, however, powerful it may be... should be able to dictate terms to smaller and regional parties," he added. "I wish Prime Minister all the success and hope his slogan 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas' will apply to all regions states and people equitably," he said "We have built our institutions brick by brick over decades. And destroying, tinkering, weakening, weaponsing these institutions will cripple our democracy," he said.
TDP members Y S Chowdary, C M Ramesh, Garikapati Mohan Rao and T G Venkatesh recently met Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and handed him letter of a resolution passed by the legislature party urging its merger.
BJP's working president J P Nadda and leader of the BJP in Rajya Sabha Thawarchand Gehlot also met Naidu and submitted a proposal from BJP president Amit Shah, saying the party has no objection to the merger of the TDP Legislature party with the BJP.
Three of the four MPs later met Nadda and Gehlot at the party headquarters and joined the BJP. "I assure them that BJP believes in politics of positivity and inclusiveness," Nadda had told a press conference in the presence of TDP MPs. Their decision to back the BJP will give a boost to the saffron party in the upper house as the ruling National Democratic Alliance does not have a majority there yet.
The TDP, which is led by former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, also has three MPs in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members and the BJP is the single largest party with 71 MPs.
