Chandrababu Naidu distanced himself from BJP to gain sympathy, says Amit Shah in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram

Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah slammed Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for distancing himself from the BJP “to gain public sympathy”. Shah is one of the first senior BJP leaders to openly attack Naidu for snapping ties with the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance. [caption id=“attachment_4420809” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of N Chandrababu Naidu. Getty Images[/caption] Addressing a public meeting in Vizianagaram, Shah said people are angry with the way the Andhra government is being run. “When Naidu felt that the people are angry with the way he is running the Andhra government and (with) his efforts to make his son the (next) chief minister, he decided to snap ties with the NDA. He tried to gain sympathy by putting the entire blame on BJP and distancing himself from us,” Shah said. The attack on Naidu comes at a time when West Bengal chief minister is fire-fighting in her own state. Mamata, who is sitting on dharna for the second day in support of Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar, got Naidu’s support. Condemning the situation in West Bengal, Naidu said “revengeful actions” against Mamata are coming after a successful Unity rally. “Court cases are being lifted off on those submitting to BJP, but new cases are being put on those opposing BJP,” he said citing the examples of recent cases against BSP chief Mayawati and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. While the Opposition parties are hinting at contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls by forming alliances, the BJP leaders are leaving no stone unturned to point out lapses on the part of their rivals. BJP MP and national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said in a tweet on 2 February that Naidu is now frustrated. “A frustrated, defeatist Chandrababu Naidu has threatened BJP MLAs Vishnu Kumar Raju and Manikyala Rao in Andhra assembly yesterday that Andhra BJP leaders will not be allowed to move in the state for exposing TDP,” Rao tweeted.

A frustrated, defeatist Chandrababu Naidu has threatened BJP MLAs Vishnu Kumar Raju & Manikyala Rao in Andhra assembly y'day that @BJP4Andhra leaders will not be allowed to move in the state for exposing TDP. BJP is planning privilege motion against @ncbn https://t.co/Py3PTKon91

— GVL Narasimha Rao (@GVLNRAO) February 1, 2019

Speaking at an event on 22 December, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said that the TDP is the other side of the Congress raj. Adding that Naidu was acting like a dictator, he also criticised the TDP chief for propagating family raj in the state. Ahead of the 2018 Assembly polls in Telangana, BJP national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao had slammed the TDP-Congress coalition in the state. Asserting that BJP wants a ‘Chandrababu Naidu-mukt’ Telangana, Muralidhar said that the coalition will have serious implications. Naidu had allied with BJP as part of the NDA during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Cracks surfaced in this alliance early last year when the Union Budget 2018 presented by then finance minister Arun Jaitley did not address Andhra’s needs, leading Naidu to allege ‘step-motherly treatment’ by the Centre towards the state. He later severed ties with the NDA over the Central Government for not accepting the demand for special category status to Andhra Pradesh.