CHENNAI: Taking serious note of the public statements made by Deputy Chief Minister KE Krishna Murthy and Roads and Buildings Minister Ch Ayyanna Patrudu over the TDP’s possible electoral alliance with the Congress, Chief Minister and party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is learnt to have sought an explanation from both the leaders. He is understood to have cautioned his party leaders not to be swayed by media reports. The issue of electoral alliance with any party would be taken only after a thorough deliberation at the party Politburo, he said.
“Being senior leaders in the party, how can the two leaders forget the fact that any decision on electoral alliances will be taken before elections and that too after discussing in the party Politburo. How can they go by media reports without verifying the facts and discussing within the party?’’ Naidu is said to have said while interacting with party leaders on Friday.
Sources in the TDP said that though the meeting organised by the Chief Minister with a few Cabinet Ministers and party leaders three days ago was limited to discussing politics at the national level and the situation in neighbouring Telangana, which is expected to go for early polls, it was reported in the media that the TDP was preparing the ground work for striking an alliance with the Congress.
“When we said that the BJP is our enemy number one, the media jumped to the conclusion that the TDP might sail with the Congress and the media house owned by YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy went into an overdrive making wild speculations about our alliances. It is unfortunate on the part of senior leaders, who are free to raise their voice within the party, to make such statements going by media reports,’’ another leader of the TDP told Express .
On Thursday, Ayyanna Patrudu, speaking to mediapersons in Visakhapatnam, said that the TDP was founded on the core principle of opposing Congress culture and the people would not tolerate it if the party opts for an electoral alliance with the grand old party. “I will oppose in case there is any move by the TDP to forge an electoral alliance with the Congress and will even quit the party in case of any such alliance,’’ he said.
Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) Krishnamurthy said that the TDP would not associate itself with the Congress. The Congress, BJP, YSRC and now Pawan Kalyan of Jana Sena are rivals of the TDP, he said in Kurnool district recently.