Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Monday said that it would be the BJP and not the YSRCP, who would be considered the main opposition party to the ruling TDP government in the state.
Lokesh, who is also the son of Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, asserted that the YSRCP could no longer compete with them and was being used by the BJP.
“In 2014, the Opposition party stood against us firmly. But, now it lost the courage to fight us directly and is resorting to conspiracies by coming up in different ways in different attires with secret agendas. The YSRC is in Intensive Care Unit and the BJP is supplying oxygen to the opposition party. Thus, voting for the YSRC is nothing but voting for the BJP. In fact, the BJP is also not believing the YSRC and bringing actors, caste associations and retired IAS officials to damage the credibility of Naidu,’’ Lokesh was quoted as saying.
He also took a dig at YSRCP chief Jaganmohan Reddy and said that even the roads that he was walking on, as part of the Praja Sankalpa padayatra, were laid by the TDP government.
"All the opposition parties joined hand in making allegations against the state government. If they have guts, they have to prove all their allegations with proofs. Opposition parties are walking on CC roads laid by our government. We have the responsibility to counter the false publicity against TDP," he added.
Lokesh also said that the BJP was ‘enemy number 1’ for the people and for the development of the state.
“Chandrababu Naidu has achieved development in the four years that was not possible in the past 70 years after Independence. Despite all this, the Opposition party is finding fault with the government. Pawan Kalyan says nothing has happened in Uddanam village. The Chief Minister diverted NTR Sujala plant meant for his constituency to Uddanam and set up many other RO plants,” Lokesh told reporters.
Just earlier this week, the BJP in Andhra Pradesh sounded the poll bugle as senior leader Kanna Lakshminarayana took charge as the chief of the party's state unit.
Lashing out at Naidu, Lakshminarayana claimed that the Centre had fulfilled most of the promises made to the state during bifurcation, and it was the Chief Minister’s ‘inefficiency’ which had delayed the development of Andhra Pradesh.