The All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Andhra Pradesh affairs Manickam Tagore has flayed the TDP-JSP combine’s alliance with the BJP.
The Congress leader posted on the social media platform ‘X’ on March 12 (Tuesday), accusing the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre of using black-mailing tactics to obtain a share in the seats in the forthcoming elections.
Taking to sarcasm, the AICC leader said: “Ah, the wonders of democracy! With ED, CBI and IT at your service and a generous 1.5% of votes, you can conveniently betray A.P.’s Special Category Status (SCS) and still magically secure six Lok Sabha seats and 10 Assembly seats, all at the gunpoint of course.”
Mr. Tagore also tagged a news report on the seat-sharing understanding reached between the poll partners.
TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu has invited sharp criticisms for allying with the BJP. He had pulled out his party from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2018 after the Modi government’s refusal to grant the Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh, he said.
Subsequently, Mr. Naidu even staged a ‘dharma poratam’ or fight for justice and also moved a no-confidence motion against the NDA government, labelling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a ‘terrorist’. In 2019, Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared that the doors of the NDA were permanently closed for Mr. Naidu, who was a “U-turn CM.”, said Mr. Tagore.
APCC president Y.S. Sharmila demanded that Mr. Naidu explain to the State’s people why he chose to align with the BJP which had betrayed the people on all fronts in the last 10 years.
Congress leader K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao wondered what had changed between 2019 and 2024 in the BJP’s denial of developmental projects to the State so that Mr. Naidu made an about turn and returned to the NDA’s fold.
