The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu has refused to react to the reports in a section of media that the TDP is likely to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
In a chat with media persons on Thursday, Mr. Naidu sought to turn the tables saying that the channels that were resorting to such speculations had to respond. “I will not react at this moment,” he said, recalling that the TDP walked out of the NDA keeping the State’s interests in view.
Mr. Naidu’s comments come at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentary board member K. Lakshman clarified that there was no alliance between the TDP and the BJP.
Mr. Lakshman, reacting to speculations, said that the BJP was in alliance with the Jana Sena Party. “The BJP is growing day by day in Andhra Pradesh. There is no discussion on the alliance between the BJP and the TDP,” he said in Hyderabad.
Mr. Naidu said Andhra Pradesh suffered more during the YSRCP rule compared to the bifurcation. “Had the TDP been in power now, Andhra Pradesh would have stood in the first place in the country by 2029. A.P. needs to be reconstructed from scratch now,” he felt.
There was no truth in the YSRCP’s propaganda that the welfare schemes would be shelved if the TDP was voted to power. In fact, the welfare schemes would be implemented with much vigour. It is the TDP that introduced welfare schemes,” he said.