Vijayawada: In a very sharp counter-attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had called him ‘Lokesh’s father Chandrababu’, AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu dragged in the name of Mr Modi’s wife.
Speaking at a public meet at Vijayawada, Mr Naidu said, “Do you know Modi has a wife? Her name is Jashodaben but he has shunned his wife and family.” Speaking at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium in Vijayawada, he objected to the way Mr Modi referred to him and said he was proud to be Mr Lokesh’s father. He said Mr Modi did not know human and family relations as he has no son and had moved away from his wife and family.
He said he was against bringing up personal issues but as Mr Modi had mentioned his family, he had replied in a similar manner. Mr Naidu alleged that Mr Modi had come all the way from Delhi in a special aircraft only to criticise him.
Replying to the Prime Minister’s charge that he had backstabbed N.T. Rama Rao, Mr Naidu said Mr Modi had the history of backstabbing his guru L.K. Advani.
He said that after the Godhra massacre then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee had decided to remove Mr Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister but his guru, Mr Advani, had stopped it. He said after becoming Prime Minister Mr Modi had forgotten this and had not even greeted his guru during a programme.
On Mr Modi’s charge that he had switched parties, Mr Naidu said he had served the people through N.T. Rama Rao. “I never practised opportunist politics,” Mr Naidu said.
He said Mr Modi wore costly dresses and footwear despite claiming to be a “chaiwala”, while he himself dressed as a common man. In response to Mr Modi making fun of his claim of being a senior in politics, Mr Naidu said the TD had elections continuously in 1994, 1996, 1998 and 1999.
Mr Naidu said that Mr Modi had never given him respect nor had he fulfilled the assurances given to Andhra Pradesh. He said he had never asked Mr Modi for personal favours but only for AP. Mr Naidu said that TD had fought against the suppression of AP by the then Congress government and now the BJP government was doing the same. This is why the TD was fighting against injustice, he said.
