It has been not even a week since Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu has lost no time in wooing Muslims.
Known for his organisational gimmicks, the TDP president got a meeting of Muslims arranged so that he could project himself as a messiah of minorities.
Over 200 Muslims under the leadership of Vijayawada (West) MLA Mohammad Jaleel Khan, came to Naidu’s residence at Vundavalli in Amaravati and congratulated him for breaking ties with the BJP.
Addressing the gathering at the Praja Darbar Hall, Naidu gave an explanation as to why he had to join the NDA in 2014 and why he had to come out of it now.
He told them that he had to forge an alliance with the BJP and join the NDA only in the interests of the state, as it had suffered heavily due to unscientific bifurcation.
“But in the last four years, the BJP government had ditched the state and not given any assistance promised in the bifurcation act. That is why we had to come out of the BJP fold,” he said.
Naidu reminded that though the TDP had ideological differences with the BJP, it had never compromised on secular credentials.
He reminded that it was the TDP which had first reacted on the triple talaq bill and opposed the same in Parliament.
He said the TDP would also fight for increase in reservations for Muslims.
“Right from the beginning, our government has been working from the interests of minorities. In the latest budget, we have allocated Rs 1,100 crore for the minority welfare, which was unprecedented in the history of the state,” Naidu said.
