The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) which recently stepped down from the BJP-led NDA alliance at the Centre told Telugu voters in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections, to “vote for anybody but the BJP”
This message was carried to Bengaluru on Monday by AP Deputy Chief Minister KE Krishna Murthy, who held a press conference in the city.
Addressing reporters, he said that Telugu people in the southern states, especially in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu should vote against the BJP because Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refused to accord Special Category Status (SCS) to the state.
The deputy CM, who was in Bengaluru on a personal visit, also accused Modi of 'cheating' the Telugu people.
According to reports, besides a sizeable chunk of techies, businessman and labourers in Bengaluru who hail from Andhra Pradesh, districts of Raichur and Ballari in north Karnataka and other constituencies like Tumakuru, Kolar and Bidar also have several Telugu voters who will exercise their right in the upcoming polls.
April 25 the last date for submitting names and April 27 for withdrawal in the single-phase poll. The voting will be held on May 12 and the counting of votes is on May 15.
Earlier this week, a group of 21 TDP MPs were detained by the police while marching towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence to demand special status for Andhra Pradesh.
All the MPs -- including Ashok Gajapathi Raju and JC Diwakar Reddy -- were bundled into a bus by police from Race Course Road in the heart of Delhi from where they set out to reach the Prime Minister's residence.
The MPs were taken to the Tughlaq Road police station from where they were released two hours after their detention.
TDP chief and Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has already warned that the TDP will agitate more vociferously if the central government didn't accord special category status to the state.