Chandrababu Naidu erred by leaving NDA: Himachal CM

Tirupati: Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu has committed a big mistake by walking out of the NDA coalition, which made him Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh thrice, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, has said.

Mr Thakur along with top cadres of the AP BJP participated in the two-day state level executive committee meeting of the party’s Andhra Pradesh unit on Sunday in Tirupati. Addressing the gathering, he said that the Telugu Desam had never won any election in the state without the support of allies and recalled that Mr Naidu came back to power with the support of the BJP in 2014 elections.

“Mr Naidu back-stabbed his own father-in-law N.T. Rama Rao, who was the party founder, as his first step to become Chief Minister of AP. Later, in 1999, he won the election by making an alliance with the BJP under the leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee. And he repeated the same formula in 2014 and formed an alliance with the BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi that helped him come back to power in the state post the bifurcation of AP,” he said.

The Himachal Pradesh CM further alleged that CM Naidu had walked out of the NDA only to cover up his own party’s failures and corruption in the state. “Naidu was trying to flare up sentiments among the people of AP against the BJP over the special category status issue. Though he tricked the people, it is a fact that BJP is committed to the development of AP. Hence, the union government led by Narendra Modi has sanctioned various schemes and funds to the tune of Rs. 5 lakh crore besides granting several prestigious central universities to the state,” he said.