BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayana on Sunday said the biggest challenge before him was to undo the damage done to the party because of the false campaign unleashed by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu right from the beginning of the alliance in 2014.
Addressing the party’s State office-bearers’ meeting here, Mr. Lakshminarayana exhorted the cadre to gear up to the task made daunting by Mr. Naidu’s propaganda machinery.
‘Wrong accounts’
Even as an ally, the State government had availed of financial assistance and grants from the Centre by submitting wrong accounts and portraying the BJP as a villain, Mr. Lakshminarayana charged. Mr. Naidu had created an impression among people that voting for the YSRCP and the JSP was nothing but giving a mandate to the BJP, he said. The Chief Minister had never let go an opportunity to project the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in poor light, he added.
Mr. Lakshminarayana said the Central government had given more grants to Andhra Pradesh than to any other State. But Mr. Naidu never acknowledged it. Instead, he let his spokespersons such as State Planning Board Vice-Chairman C. Kutumba Rao vouch for his false arguments, he said. Unfortunately, Mr. Naidu stooped to such a level that he encouraged a few leaders in the TDP, some of whom were involved in murder and cheating cases, to make personal attacks on Mr. Modi, the BJP leader charged. “Mr. Naidu lacks the courage to confront the BJP on any issue as he knows that he cannot substantiate his charges. What he does is to silence his critics in one way or the other,” Mr. Lakshminarayana observed.
BJP national secretary V. Satish; MPs K. Haribabu (Visakhapatnam) and Gokaraju Gangaraju (Narsapuram); MLCs Somu Veerraju and K. Satyanarayana Raju; MLA P. Vishnu Kumar Raju (Visakhapatnam North), and Mahila Morcha national in-charge Daggubati Purandeswari were among others present.
