Chandrababu Naidu appeals to Telugu people in Karnataka to defeat BJP

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party president Nara Chandrababu Naidu on April 30 appealed to all Telugu people in Karnataka to defeat BJP, “which is resorting to collusion politics and conspiracies in Karnataka elections”

Naidu was addressing a massive TDP public meeting in Tirupati in southern Andhra Pradesh. Naidu alleged that Modi failed to fulfil the promise made as the Prime Ministerial candidate of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the presence of Lord Venkateswara.

Naidu screened, before people, videos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "expose" what he called his betrayal to the state on granting special category status. Titled "Fight against betrayal and collusion politics", the meeting was attended by thousands of people and it also set the tone for TDP’s campaign for next year's elections.

The meeting was organised at Sri Venkateswara University Grounds, the same location from where then Prime Ministerial candidate Modi had addressed a gathering on the same day four years ago.

The TDP, which pulled out of the NDA government in March over its refusal to grant special status to the state, screened three different videos of Modi's speeches.

In one video clipping, Modi is heard praising then BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu for extracting the promise of special status from then UPA government. He then said that after coming to power, he will fulfil the promise. Chandrababu Naidu also played video clipping of Modi's speech at another election meeting, where he assured the people that after coming to power, he will build new state capital on such a scale that the national capital Delhi will look small before it. The Chief Minister also showed to people another video of Modi's speech delivered after laying foundation stone of new state capital Amaravati on October 22, 2015. At that meeting, Modi had vowed to fulfil all the commitments made in Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

"Is it not betrayal," he repeatedly asked people reminding them of the promises made by Modi during the 2014 election campaign.

Naidu said Modi had granted ₹2,500 crore for construction of a statue in Gujarat, but released just ₹1,500 crore for the construction of Amaravati. The TDP chief also lashed out at Modi government for increasing atrocities on Dalits, women and minorities.

Naidu called upon the Telugus living in Karnataka to vote against the BJP in the next month's state Assembly elections.

Earlier in April, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and senior TDP leader KE Krishna Murthy had travelled to Karnataka to campaign among Telugu-speaking voters, to vote for “anybody but Modi” in the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections, slated for May 12.

With IANS inputs.