'TDP played crucial role in national politics,' says Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu

Amaravati: Telugu Desam Party, despite being a regional outfit, played a crucial role in national politics and in forming governments at the Centre several times, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Friday.

Addressing a TDP MPs and legislators meeting, Naidu requested them to not repeat the "mistakes" committed by the YSRCP leaders during their party's regime. He asserted that TDP leaders should not involve themselves in the liquor trade unless it is their family business. "All of us have to have some discipline in this," he said. Recently, the Andhra Pradesh government has allotted 3,396 liquor outlets to private parties under a new policy.

On his party's role at the national level, he said: "Even though we are a regional party, we played crucial roles in national politics. We were in the main position at one point of time and we formed the National Front and United Front and contributed to form governments at the Centre." He further said that without expecting any posts, the TDP supported Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government for six years at the Centre.

Naidu said it was Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan, who first approached him before the Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls for an alliance with the TDP. The actor-politician did not want to allow the votes to split among opposition parties. The BJP approached the TDP later requesting them to join the NDA, he said.

Attacking the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government over debt burden, Naidu said the state has a debt of Rs 10.5 lakh crore, and the principal and interest has to be paid now. He said due to the helping hand extended by the Centre, the state was able to cope; otherwise the situation would have been bad. The CM said the Visakhapatnam Railway Zone initiative has been cleared by the Centre and the foundation stone will be laid soon.

Naidu, referring to the NDA Chief Ministers' meeting on October 17, said everybody should learn from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose efforts and resolve enabled him to become the PM for the third time and also made it possible for the BJP to win Gujarat six times and Haryana three times.

According to Naidu, Modi is able to win elections unlike any other person in the country as, "he did not commit any mistake and didn't allow his party men to do so". Further, the Chief Minister said that NDA leaders and CMs deliberated in that meeting on coordination, including the mechanism needed for it.

To achieve this goal, he said a "planning board" has been set up for coordination among the BJP, Janasena and TDP, which will also facilitate deliberations if needed.