Questioning how Congress leaders in Delhi, belonging to different regions, could decide on the Telangana issue and affect the lives of nine crore Telugu people and their “self-respect,” Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu, who continued his indefinite fast for the third day on Wednesday here, said he did care even if it cost his life.
Addressing TDP supporters, who had come in large numbers by a special train from Hyderabad, Mr. Naidu said the Congress government was giving him trouble as the Resident Commissioner in A.P. Bhavan here had served him with the order to move out from the place as he and his supporters were deemed an unauthorised gathering. “How can he call us unauthorised, don’t we have addresses? Does this A.P. Bhavan not belong to Telugus?”
The TDP chief also wondered how Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, and other Congress leaders like Digvijaya Singh, P. Chidambaram, A.K. Antony and Veerappa Moily could decide about the future of Telugus. He sought to know why there was no leader from Andhra Pradesh in the decision-making set up.
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Earlier, TDP activists clashed with the officials of A.P. Bhavan when the main gate was locked and entry was banned. However due to the protest, the officials relented and opened the gate. Meanwhile, the A.P. Bhavan Resident Commissioner wrote a letter to the Union home secretary to direct the Delhi police to evict Mr. Naidu.
Former Chief Minister of Assam and Asom Gana Parishad leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta met Mr. Naidu and enquired about his health.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde refused to get into the ongoing tussle between Andhra Pradesh government and N. Chandrababu Naidu over the TDP chief’s indefinite fast in the Andhra Bhavan premises here.
“We have nothing to do with it. ‘Ye unka mamla hai. Hume kya karna hai? (It’s their matter. What do we have to do with it?),” he told reporters here on Wednesday, according to a PTI report.