The Andhra Pradesh unit of the BJP on Friday lashed out at Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his ongoing ‘deekshas’, alleging widespread corruption and misuse of public money, in the TDP’s attempt to lash out at the Centre and Prime Minister Modi.
Andhra's political landscape is witnessing high pitch turmoil as former allies, the TDP and BJP, are resorting to a slugfest in public.
The TDP has been organising massive public gatherings under the ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ banner, to highlight ‘injustice’ meted out the state after bifurcation.
At these events, the TDP led by Naidu, has launched several attacks on the top leadership of the BJP.
Speaking to the media in Visakhapatnam on Friday, senior BJP MLC Somu Veerraju said, "Though the government has released Rs 13 crore for this programme, the overall expenditure for the Deeksha is more than Rs 50 crore."
He further alleged, "Since the last one week, there is no government in place as all officials are unavailable in their offices due to the Deeksha. This is the situation that Naidu created."
The BJP leader also claimed that Naidu was using public money for attacking the ruling party at the Centre and spreading lies.
Veerraju also said that it was ‘fear and insecurity’ that forced Naidu to attend the swearing in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and meet Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
With the BJP not stepping back, the TDP leadership also upped the ante and termed the allegations ‘ridiculous’.
Speaking to TNM, TDP official spokesperson Lanka Dinakar said "This is ridiculous on their part. We are not doing this (Deeksha) only on this year alone. BJP leaders, including former ministers, had also participated in the past."
“The BJP-led union government is not supporting the state in any field as promised earlier in the elections. BJP leaders should get their facts right before making such remarks," he added.
Responding to the allegations of corruption and wastage of public money by Naidu, Dinakar said, "We are conducting the Deeksha to reach out to people and create awareness about the injustice that has happened to the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spent Rs 4,000 crore on publicity. What is that they have achieved? They miserably failed in doing justice to the state."
When asked about the swearing-in ceremony in Bengaluru, the TDP leader said, "They have invited Naidu with open arms. These are utterly baseless statements. With what fear did former President Pranab Mukherjee attended an RSS event recently?”
The TDP quit the BJP-led NDA earlier this year, for its refusal to fulfil the commitment on special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
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