NDA doors closed forever for Chandrababu Naidu: Shah

BJP President Amit Shah on Monday launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and made it clear that the doors of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) were closed forever for him.

Exuding confidence that the NDA will retain power and Narendra Modi will become Prime Minister again after the 2019 elections, he predicted that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief will once again try to come into NDA fold.

"I want to assure the people of Andhra Pradesh and BJP workers that we have closed NDA's doors forever for Naidu. He will not find a place in the alliance," he told a public meeting at Palasa town in Srikakulam district while flagging off a 'bus yatra' of state BJP President Kanna Laxminarayana.

Recalling that Naidu started his political career as an MLA of Congress, the BJP chief said he always switched loyalties to enjoy power.

"He later joined the TDP formed by N.T. Rama Rao (NTR) and enjoyed power. When he got the opportunity, he betrayed NTR who had promoted him, captured power and the entire party," said Shah.

"Chandrababu Naidu kept wandering for 10 years. When he realised that he can't come to power on his own, he joined hands with Modiji and NDA. Now he has left NDA and making allegations against Modiji."

The BJP chief alleged that Naidu joined hands with the Congress which had insulted Telugu people and did injustice to Andhra Pradesh.

He recalled that TDP was floated by NTR on the slogan of 'Telugu pride'. "Now after the drubbing in Telangana elections, he is trying to form Mahagathbandhan."

Shah said Naidu was trying to mislead the people of Andhra Pradesh.

On the TDP chief's allegation that the Centre did injustice to Andhra Pradesh, Shah challenged him to compare the help extended by NDA to the state during last five years with the help received during 55 years of Congress rule.

He claimed that NDA had given 10 times more help than the Congress. During the 10 years of Congress rule, Andhra Pradesh got only Rs 1.17 lakh crore while the NDA government in last five years provided Rs 5.56 lakh crore.

"You should tell people why you severed ties with the Modi government which provided more funds to the state. It is clear that you are not bothered about development. you are only interested in corruption," Shah asserted.

The BJP leader said that the NDA government fulfilled 10 of the 14 commitments in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014. He listed out 20 national institutes set up in the state in last five years.

Claiming that Modi was ready to give more money than the state would got under the Special Category status, he said Naidu did not send the proposals to the Centre and as a result the state was deprived of the funds.

Shah said Naidu had welcomed the special package in the Assembly but when he realised that people were unhappy with his governance, his attempts to make his son the Chief Minister, corruption in construction of capital Amaravati and Polavaram project, he started making false allegations against the BJP to gain public sympathy.

The BJP chief said both TDP and YSR Congress were parties of family rule and can't do any good to the state. He appealed to people to give a chance to BJP.

Shah later interacted with BJP leaders from four Lok Sabha constituencies: Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram, Anakapalli and Araku.

--IANS

ms/rs/mr