Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu has left it to party’s Telangana unit to decide alliance with Congress and other parties for the Assembly elections in the state.
Naidu told the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders of Telangana on Saturday that it’s for them to decide on the alliance. He discussed TDP’s strategy with the party leaders.
Naidu reportedly dropped hints that he would not be in a position to campaign for the party in Telangana.
The TDP chief’s move comes in the wake of reports that main opposition Congress party is ready to have an alliance with TDP, the Left parties and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) to take on ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Thursday dissolved the state Assembly. The elections are likely to be held by year-end along with four other states.
While addressing TDP leaders, Naidu avoided direct reference to the Congress. He remarked that ups and downs were common for TDP in its 35-year history.
Naidu claimed that if Telangana is a revenue-surplus state, it was because of the efforts he made during his stint as the chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh.
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister said that he wants progress and prosperity of both the Telugu states. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to pitch Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao against him by stating that Rao displayed maturity.
Naidu also criticized Modi for the manner in which he rolled out demonetization and claimed that this exercise failed to achieve any purpose and ended up causing inconvenience to the people.
TDP’s Telangana unit chief L. Ramna and other leaders told Naidu that TDP’s support base remained intact in Telangana despite several leaders crossing over to TRS during last four years.
TDP bagged 15 seats in 119-member Telangana Assembly in 2014 elections. However, 13 of its legislators have switched loyalties to the ruling party.
[source_without_link]IANS[/source_without_link]