Exuding confidence that his party would emerge as a dominant player in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.), BJP MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao said the precise reasons for the TDP ditching its partner would be put before the people in a massive door-to-door campaign over the next few months.
He described the TDP’s ‘campaign of calumny’ against the BJP as a ploy purely necessitated by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s political compulsions and the failures of his government.
Organisational strength
Mr. Rao told The Hindu that the BJP would leverage its strong organisational capabilities and the widely acclaimed leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and on the allegation that the BJP had not done enough for A.P., it would give a blow-by-blow account of the funds (₹2.44 lakh crore) given sans the tag of Special Category Status.
“We are poised to win a significant number of seats on our own in A.P. in 2019 and I can say only one of the two regional parties will survive,” he said, while denying that the BJP was seeking alliances after the TDP had charted its own course.
‘Scandals will be out’
Mr. Rao said the BJP would expose scandals like the huge one involving the personal deposit accounts and demand an explanation for the urgency behind the government’s immediate shifting to Amaravati when it could be seated in the common capital Hyderabad for 10 years and question why it sat on the capital city project for so long after acquiring land.
It (the BJP) would harp on other issues that had been irritants for the TDP.
“Our leaders brought to light various scandals, which is the reason why Mr. Naidu decided to quit the alliance as he could not apparently take that negativity in his stride,” Mr. Rao observed, saying, unlike in many States, people of A.P. were amenable to change and they knew BJP was good for them.
