Taking a cue from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has called upon his party workers to express their resentment against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit by wearing yellow and black clothes, and flying yellow and black balloons on Sunday. Yellow is Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) colour.
Chandrababu Naidu said that the PM's visit to the state was rubbing salt in the wound, and asked his partymen to carry out rallies in a peaceful manner. He said that the TDP workers should observe Modi's visit as a 'dark day'.
PM Narendra Modi will be visiting Guntur on Sunday at Yetkuru to address the Praja Chaitanya Sabha as part of the upcoming General Election campaign. This will be his first visit to the state after his fallout with the TDP in March last year, for not granting Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.
Besides the TDP, the Left parties and the Congress will also protest against Modi's visit. However, the YSRCP has remained silent on the issue.
Naidu, who has been alleging that the Opposition YSRCP is Modi’s B-team, told his party cadre that the Jaganmohan Reddy-led party is extending its support to the BJP.
"YSRCP chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy is not uttering a single word on Modi's betrayal to AP, proving his disloyalty to Andhra people," NIE quoted him saying.
"Our protests against three Modi’s - Narendra Modi, YS Jaganmohan Reddy and K Chandrasekhar Rao - should be peaceful,” he added.
Meanwhile, a day before Modi's visit, hoardings with 'Modi Never Again', 'Modi No Entry' cropped up at several places in Guntur. However, following a complaint by the BJP to the Director General of Police, the hoardings were later removed. It was widely perceived that the hoardings were the work of the TDP since the posters with similar images were put up by the TDP earlier. However, the party denied their role. "The allegations of the TDP sponsoring the act are false and baseless," TDP spokesperson Lanka Dinakar told TNM.