VIJAYAWADA: Even as the YSRC claims that the joint manifesto released by the TDP and JSP does not have the acceptance of the BJP, leaders of the TDP in their internal talks felt it was only meant to create a rift among the NDA partners.
If the YSRC leaders feel that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had no confidence in the TDP implementing the manifesto going by the experience in 2014 elections, it will only remain a futile attempt to sow seeds of mistrust among the NDA constituents. The TDP leaders argued that if it was the case, then it should be the BJP that has to be blamed as it did not deliver on its promise of granting SCS, which is the major demand, and which forced the TDP to exit the from then NDA. “In fact, the YSRC leaders appear to be targeting the BJP and Modi by shooting with the gun from our shoulders,” a TDP leader observed.
"As of now, we don’t want to prolong the issue as we are an ally of the BJP," he added.
When asked whether the decision of the BJP not to associate with the TDP-JSP joint manifesto, damaged the election prospects of the tripartite alliance, one TDP leader told TNIE that the BJP leaders are announcing that they are endorsing the joint manifesto but in practice, they are not. “We have explained to the Telugu Desam cadre the line taken by the saffron party that it will confine to the manifesto at the national level and support manifestos by its allies in the States,” another TDP leader said.