BJP Plays It Safe On Cash-for-Vote Scam

VIJAYAWADA: BJP is treading on ‘egg shells’ in regard to to its posturing on  “cash-for-vote scam” which has blown up in the face of chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Though the party leaders are uneasy over the political fallout of the developments on the party’s image since it is an ally of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), they are keeping a stiff upper lip in the absence of any direction from the party’s top honchos on what they should speak and what they should not.

BJP leader and MP Gokaraju Ganga Raju says: “Where will we go? We are with Naidu and we will continue to be with him.” However, one cannot miss the streak of uneasiness on his face when he says this.

Though an all-out war has broken out between the chief ministers of AP and Telangana, the BJP leaders in both the states are steering clear of it by not making any comment on the issue.

“We may not have said anything on the scam, but it does not mean that we are moving away from Naidu. Anyway, the case is in the court and the ACB is investigating. Let the probe be over,” Ganga Raju, speaking to mediapersons, says cautiously.

As no one knows what has transpired between Naidu and the prime minister and the other honchos of the party in Delhi during the former’s recent visit, the BJP leaders are playing safe, not to be caught in an embarrassing position. “Please leave me alone. I have nothing to comment on this,” Ganga Raju said but was quite vociferous when it came to the promises made by the BJP at the time of elections to the electorate of AP.

“We are committed to fulfilling all the promises that we have made. Even though there is some problem in regard to special category status, we are actually giving more to AP that it would get in the event of such a status  being granted to it,” he says but would not say the proposal for special status has been shelved. “We are committed to all the promises made,” he says.