Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has asserted that the party would think about alliances at the time of the next elections and cautioned party leaders against airing their views on alliances at this juncture.
“Don’t speak about possible alliances in future. The party leadership will think about them at the time of the elections,” he said. Mr. Naidu’s comment assumes significance in the light of reported remarks by a section of BJP leaders that the party decided to go it alone in the next elections.
The TDP national president was speaking at the party’s Telangana unit’s Mahanadu, the first annual conclave of the TDP-Telangana unit after bifurcation, here on Wednesday.
He said the party entered into an alliance with the BJP in the previous elections as it wanted the cooperation of the Centre in taking up developmental programmes in the new State, Andhra Pradesh.
Avoids criticism
Mr. Naidu preferred not to make any remarks against the Telangana Government or the ruling TRS when the other leaders of the party including TDP-TS president L. Ramana and working president A. Revanth Reddy went all out against the “misrule” of the incumbent Government.
There was still time for elections and there would be possible political developments in the days to come, he said.
The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh advised the party leaders and cadre to focus more on championing the issues of immediate public importance and continue the struggle till the issues were resolved.
Membership drive
The TDP’s repeated assertion that cadre was its strength and it had not deserted the party even after some leaders left it was proved yet again with the party’s membership drive registering enrolment of 7.5 lakh active members during the 50-day membership drive. He recalled how the foundation stones for important projects like the Metro rail, outer ring road and various irrigation projects were laid during the TDP rule and said the TDP gave priority to inviting investments from abroad in the key sectors like IT. “The infrastructure in Hyderabad city is my brain child,” he asserted.
Mr. Revanth Reddy launched a trenchant attack on the State government for neglecting agriculture, health, education and other key sectors in its three-year rule. Unable to bear the questions being raised about its inefficiency, the government had imposed several restrictions on the opposition parties as well as the media. Mr. Ramana, senior leader M. Narsimhulu and others recalled how the city secured global recognition during the nine-year TDP regime and lamented that the policies of the present government were plunging key sectors into crisis.
