VIJAYAWADA: On a day when TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu sang peans to the party founder NT Rama Rao on the occasion of the 41st Formation Day, the YSRC demanded that Naidu speak out as to why he had backstabbed his father-in-law.
Lashing out at Naidu for using NTR’s words for his political gains, former minister and Gudivada MLA Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao (Nani) said while NTR started the party to serve the poor, Naidu has been encouraging capitalists. “Naidu had sold away tickets and made the party as a commercial establishment,’’ Nani alleged.
He asked why Naidu had dislodged NTR as the Chief Minister and also suspended him from the party. “Why did you snatch away the CM post from NTR, his party and the trusts he started? Naidu does not have an answer to this question,’’ Nani observed.
The former minister said Naidu had done away with the Rs 2 a kg rice scheme, which was introduced by NTR. “The party established by NTR to serve the people has now turned into a commercial establishment, selling MP, MLA and MLC tickets,’’ he alleged.
Nani said Naidu does not have the confidence to go to elections alone and added that he is claiming that the party’s morale is on a high, which is false.
“Of the five times, he went to general elections, he won only once in the unified Andhra Pradesh and once after the State was divided. In 1999, it was because of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the TDP came to power,’’ he said and added that Naidu lost the majority of the MP seats six of the seven times he contested,’’ he pointed out.
Nani further said Naidu was caught red-handed while ‘purchasing’ MLAs in the vote-for-note scam. “You have tried to split the YSRC by encouraging defection of its MLAs, but the people of the State have taught you a lesson by defeating you in the elections,’’ Nani remarked.
Meanwhile, Bapatla MP Nandigam Suresh alleged that Naidu was trying to politicise the murder of Atchanna, a Dalit of Kadapa, even when the police arrested the accused in the case. “He was murdered due to some disputes at the workplace. But, Naidu is trying to portray it as an attack on Dalits,’’ Suresh said.