The Shiromani Akali Dal has come out in support of fellow NDA ally, the Telugu Desam Party, after it aired its grievances against the BJP over lack of funds, especially after the presentation of the Union Budget.
Akali Dal MP Naresh Gujral spoke to The Hindu on Sunday and said his party was “sympathetic” to the stand of the TDP and its chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, and the BJP, as the leader of the NDA, should sort out the matter.
“We are in sympathy with what the TDP is saying. Certain commitments were made to Andhra Pradesh when the State of Telangana was created and those should be honoured. The state of Andhra Pradesh was split from Telangana, with the latter keeping Hyderabad which generated 40% of the revenue of the united Andhra Pradesh. Therefore the new State of Andhra Pradesh is a child born with a deep handicap with very little industry in its share and mostly agriculture- based economic activity. We too (Punjab) are from a predominantly agriculture- based economy and know that revenue generation is neither easy nor quick. We have also suffered the lack of a capital city as we share Chandigarh with Haryana,” he said.
“The UPA promised certain things and the NDA should have delivered it as the State requires funds,” he said.
The BJP and the Centre, he said, should sort out the matter with the TDP at the earliest. He denied that the Gujarat Assembly results and the BJP’s loss in three seats in the Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls in Rajasthan had prompted the allies to flex their muscles. “These are issues that are fundamental to the State,” he said.
The BJP meanwhile signalled that senior Ministers in the NDA government, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Roads and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari will be asked to speak to TDP MPs on Monday as they arrive in New Delhi for the rest of the Parliament session.
“The TDP’s decision to put pressure on the government to press for their demands rather than walk out now shows that there is still room to negotiate,” said a senior BJP leader involved in southern States.
For long the BJP has not assigned anyone to deal with matters in Andhra Pradesh which was earlier handled by Uttar Pradesh’s Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh when he was a national secretary of the party and not a Minister. “The plain fact is that the relations between the two parties need to be handled on a regular basis. After the U.P. polls, there has been a drift,” said a source.
The success of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s ongoing padyatra in the TDP-dominated districts of Anantpur and Chittoor and his assertion that he would not be averse to supporting the BJP has also muddied the waters between the BJP and the TDP.
“As of now, it is too early in the game for definitive action, but we do expect things to escalate once the three big Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh are done,” said a senior BJP leader.
