Hyderabad: “Why is he visiting Andhra Pradesh? To see whether the people of Andhra Pradesh are alive or dead,” asked Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is to visit the state on January 6.
Mr Naidu had asked the same question in relation to Congress president Rahul Gandhi when he had visited AP in 2015 and 2017. The question may be the same but the issue is different. Mr Naidu was upset with the Congress and Mr Gandhi for allowing the bifurcation of AP state and he is now upset with Mr Modi for not granting special category status to AP.
Ever since the BJP announced the proposed visit of the Prime Minister to AP, TD leaders and ministers have been opposing it, saying he should visit the state only after resolving the pending issues relating to assurances given to AP during state bifurcation. Now, Mr Naidu has joined the chorus of disapproval.
He questioned how Mr Modi can visit the state when he has not fulfilled the assurances given during the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Mr Modi is visiting the state “to see if the people of AP are alive or dead”, asked Mr Naidu. Once the TD left the NDA earlier this year because the Central government did not grant special status to AP as promised, Mr Naidu turned against the and criticised his visit to AP.
In 2015, after the 2014 elections and the state’s bifurcation, Mr Rahul Gandhi, then vice-president of the Congress, came to Anantapur district for the first time to participate in the Rythu Bharosa Yatra organised by the AP Congress Committee. Mr Naidu, who was strongly against the bifurcation of the state and a separate state of Telangana, had objected to the visit and asked whether Rahul Gandhi is visiting AP to see if the people of AP were alive or dead. In 2017 too Mr Gandhi participated in the Rythu Bharosa Yatra in Guntur. Till the Telugu Desam was with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP, Mr Naidu criticised the Congress.
