The TDP chief, on his first visit to Delhi after his party snapped ties with the ruling NDA, said his priority was to press the Centre to give a special status and funds to Andhra Pradesh. "Five crore people in Andhra Pradesh are annoyed and agitated and they are feeling that injustice has been done earlier and now the same betrayal has happened", Naidu said in an interview with Mint on Wednesday. Naidu will also meet Congress floor leader Mallikharjun Kharge in the Parliament Central Hall. Apart from meeting opposition leaders like Sharad Pawar, Derek O'Brien, Farooq Abdullah, and Jyotiraditya Scindia, Naidu also met BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, Hema Malini and others from the NDA.
On his first visit to Delhi after walking out of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Naidu emphasized that he chose to come in order to put pressure on the Union government to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh. "I am here to get justice for my state". "If there was no Modi or the BJP, where the TDP would be", he said. I waited for four years.
Most Opposition parties, including the Congress, have announced support for the no-confidence motion moved by the TDP. This is a rare sight when the Chief Minister of a state gives a presentation to the national media. "We went for campaigns together and assured people that justice would be done and people voted for us", Naidu said.
He said he had his alliance with the BJP was because the state needed "hand holding from the Centre".
He said that the way the bifurcation was being done was unscientific and painful for the people of Andhra Pradesh. That is why you are not supporting Andhra Pradesh?
Soon after the Telugu Desam Party chief accused the Centre of "mud-slinging" and working to damage his credibility, the BJP fielded Union minister Prakash Javadekar to counter him. "We never attack people, We never attack erstwhile friends as is being done by the TDP".
Subsequently, the BJP refuted Naidu's charges and ridiculed him for his attempts to seek support from the Opposition. He was present with the Chief Minister all through his meetings with the Opposition leaders. Sometimes, they said there are elections, sometimes they said they would do it.
Responding directly to Naidu's comments, the YSR Congress Party tweeted, "While it's pleasing to see that you have finally woken up to the virtues of SCS (special category status) just a year away from polls, we take you back to the days when you gleefully surrendered AP's interest for a so-called special package".