Amaravati: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday spoke to Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu over the phone about the recent developments in Andhra Pradesh.
According to TDP sources, Shah called up the former Chief Minister as he could not give the appointment when the latter was in New Delhi due to his visit to Kashmir.
Naidu is believed to have apprised Shah of the situation prevailing in Andhra Pradesh due to “state-sponsored terrorism”. Alleging that there is a total breakdown of law and order, the TDP leader demanded imposition of the President’s rule in the State.
The TDP chief alleged that the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) attacked TDP offices and leaders in the state as the opposition party was raising its voice against drug trafficking. He told Shah that TDP leaders were being targeted with false cases.
Interestingly, the information about Amit Shah’s phone call to Naidu came hours after YSRCP parliamentary party leader Vijay Sai Reddy claimed that Naidu was denied an appointment with the Union Home Ministert.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the YSRCP leader said nobody in the national capital was ready to meet the TDP leader. He remarked that leaders in Delhi know Naidu’s colours and nobody gave him an appointment.
Vijay Sai Reddy said Naidu finally met President Ram Nath Kovind but it was known what he discussed with him. The YSRCP leader wanted to know if the former Chief Minister visited Delhi to support the abusive words used by his party leader against Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The YSRCP MP ridiculed Naidu’s demand for President’s rule saying a man who lost all the elections is making the demand. “He is saying there is state-sponsored terrorism in the state. I want to underline that Chandrababu Naidu himself is a big terrorist. I have no hesitation in saying that he is the emperor of anti-social elements. People are realising that Chandrababu is the leader of rowdy elements and terrorist outfits,” said Reddy.
The YSRCP alleged that Naidu was creating trouble between castes and communities and provoking one section of people against the other for his political ends.
Meanwhile, reacting to Reddy’s attack on Naidu, TDP leaders K. Narayana and Devineni Umamaheswara Rao asked why Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy was not trying for the appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the past one year.
They advised Vijay Sai Reddy to introspect about the Chief Minister’s failures instead of hurling needless abuses on Naidu. They said people of whole Andhra knew how Jagan Reddy was made to wait days together and yet could not get an appointment from Amit Shah in the past. They also pointed out that the Chief Minister met the Prime Minister in the first week of October 2020, and did not “dare” to seek the PM’s appointment afterward.