Hyderabad Describing the forthcoming assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh as a Kurukshetra war of epic Mahabharata, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday said the TDP was raring to defeat Kauravas to establish a House of respectable and responsible people’s representatives.
Addressing the party functionaries on the opening day of the two-day Mahanadu, Naidu said the TDP was ready to face the assembly elections whenever they were held – in advance or as per the schedule in April/May next year.
Mahanadu is a two-day biennial conclave of the Telugu Desam Party being held from May 27, at Vemagiri near Rajahmundry.
“For the last four years, power entrusted to YSR Congress party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was like a stone in the hand of a mad man. We shall go all out to see that the stone doesn’t hit the poor people and the state is rid of this mad man,” Naidu said.
Naidu said that the party should always strive had to create assets and distribute them among the poor. “Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sole aim is to become rich at the cost of the poor, but my aim is to see the poor become rich,” he said.
Stating that the leaders and cadre have made several sacrifices in the past four years without fearing arrests and attacks by the ruling party, the TDP supremo assured that he would always stand by them in the hour of crisis.
“I salute you all for firmly standing by the party despite attacks on all of you, all these years. I shall take the responsibility to come to your rescue in future and stand by you,” Naidu said, adding that with the introduction of technology, there was no gap between the leaders and the cadre.
Observing that the Late NT Rama Rao (NTR), the founder of the TDP, brought global recognition for the Telugu society, the party’s national president said, “We are descendants of such a great leader.”
Maintaining that this Mahanadu is historic, as it marked the birth centenary of NTR on one hand and the 42-year-long travel of the TDP on the other, Naidu gave a call to the party leaders and cadre to take the Telugu society to the top level in the world.
TDP Andhra Pradesh unit president K Atchen Naidu said, the time had come for the people of the state to oust Jagan out of power. The authoritarian tendency in Jagan had got exposed after had won 151 assembly seats in 2019 assembly elections and he began destructive rule by opening the doors for evil deeds, he added.
He alleged that Jagan had resorted to false propaganda against Naidu. The TDP always stood by the people and never tried to take revenge against any particular leader or party and it always moved ahead with a proper agenda and with public support, he added.
Reacting to Naidu’s speech at Mahanadu, senior YSR Congress party leader and state housing minister Jogi Ramesh said Naidu had the moral right to invoke the name of NTR, let alone garlanding his statue. “It was Naidu who had backstabbed NTR and usurped power from him, leading to his untimely death,” Ramesh said.
Describing Mahanadu being held at Rajahmundry as a big drama, the minister said, “Naidu has nothing to claim on doing something good for the people. Public welfare is not even on its agenda.”
