BJP leader P Muralidhar Rao alleges Chandrababu Naidu is 'anti-Telangana', slams Congress-TDP coalition

Hyderabad: BJP national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao Friday attacked TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu calling him anti-Telangana while also slamming the Congress-TDP coalition for the December 7 state polls. The BJP leader alleged Naidu’s ‘influence’ in any manner in Telangana is going to hurt the state’s development. “In 2014 itself, the BJP understood the way he (Chandrababu) was functioning that he is working against Telangana…we have suffered because of that and immediately we have distanced unilaterally and came out of that partnership,” Rao told reporters in Hyderabad. [caption id=“attachment_5145071” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu. Twitter/@ncbn[/caption] The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had an alliance with the BJP during 2014 elections in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Attacking the Congress-TDP alliance, Rao said, “Definitely, it will have serious implications and negative consequences for Telangana and its people. The BJP wants Chandrababu Naidu-mukt Telangana…we have become free from his influence…and we want to retain it. We will not allow any kind of this influence coming into the Telangana governance. “It is the Congress which has to take a decision… the Congress has become covert to Chandrababu Naidu,” he alleged. For the BJP, the upcoming Assembly elections in Telangana are very important in the context of the south, Rao said, adding “We have a kind of ambition to expand in South. We have an abiding commitment for development of Telangana.” Rao also accused the TRS of failing to fulfill its promises and said anti-TRS campaigns will be taken up extensively by the party’s national leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah, central ministers, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and over 100 public meetings will be organised in the coming days. The TRS and the Congress are “family first” parties while the BJP stands for nation first, he claimed. “Earlier, TRS president and caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had met Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and later Chandrababu and other ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) leaders also met Kumaraswamy. Tomorrow if needed they will come together. Vote for Congress is vote for TDP and TRS…all are one. BJP is the only party which has a distinct and uncompromising stand against TRS,” the BJP leader asserted.