TDP may quit BJP-led Govt, likely to back rival Jagan Mohan Reddy

Amaravati: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is likely to snap ties with the BJP and exit the alliance with the NDA as early as on Friday. The party has also indicated that it may support the YSR Congress Party’s no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in Parliament.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said, “If necessary, we will support the no-confidence motion against Centre, whoever may place it.”

TDP will hold a politburo meeting on Friday and it is expected that the party will take a final call on the issue of exiting from the NDA.

According to a report in The Indian Express, sources have said that a majority of the members including MPs, MLAs and senior leaders have already told Naidu to quit the alliance.

“This is the final option. The CM is livid that instead of resolving issues faced by the state, the BJP is indulging in dirty politics that it played in Tamil Nadu,’’ TDP leader Kambhampati Rammohan Rao said.

Earlier on Thursday, Naidu, who is at loggerheads with the Centre over demand of special status for state, said that Modi is trying to repeat in Andhra Pradesh what he has done in Tamil Nadu where BJP supported OPS faction against EPS in the AIADMK.

In a teleconference with party MPs, Naidu alleged that the BJP was following 'divide and rule policy'.

He also accused the BJP of resorting to using Jagan Mohan Reddy and Pawan Kalyan against TDP.

Naidu further said that instead of addressing the issues raised by the state such as allocating special funds, bridging revenue gap or special category status as promised in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Modi was using the Tamil Nadu template to pit YSRCP and Jana Sena against TDP.

Referring to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar poll results announced on March 14 in which BJP lost, Naidu said that there is strong anti-Modi and anti-BJP feeling across country.

TDP withdrew its two ministers from the Union Cabinet on March 8 accusing the BJP of not fulfilling its promise to give special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

The party is also evaluating if actor K Pavan Kalyan, who supported the BJP-TDP alliance and who broke his association with the TDP, has been instructed by the BJP to attack the party.

Telugu film star and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan had on Wednesday charged the Chandrababu Naidu government with converting the state into a 'corrupt Andhra Pradesh' and warned it of repercussions in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

(With agency inputs)