Not long ago the two Chandras — K Chandrasekhar Rao of Telangana and N Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh — appeared to be heading for a close tie up and working in tandem to increase the clout of the two Telugu States. But today as they are on a collision course and all set to fight it out in the coming elections one question befuddling the observers was; what went wrong to change the equations so drastically?
For the first time one of them — Andhra Pradesh CM- has broken his silence revealing what transpired between them during the hey days and what led to breakdown.
Addressing the meeting of MPs of his party Telugu Desam Party president Naidu revealed that KCR wanted TDO to fight the elections in Telangana alone and not to have any alliance with the Congress. “It was clear that he had become the puppet in the hands of some others”, he said.
Narrating the sequence of events Naidu said that in one of his first meetings with him he had proposed that the two regional parties ruling the two Telugu state should work together to prove their strength in southern India and also secure the interests of Telugus in Delhi. “Initially he (KCR) responded positively and sought some time to think over it. However a week later he declined the offer. Then only it became clear that he was playing in the hands of some others”.
Naidu also said that KCR also put forth one condition after the other. “Once he said that if TDP listens to him in Telangana he will not enter Andhra Pradesh”, Naidu told the MP. “On another occasion he said that if TDP wants to contest in Telangana it should do it alone and not have a tie up with Congress. Realising that he was dictating terms at the behest of Congress I decided to stay away from him”, Naidu said.
TDP President strongly defended his decision to have an alliance with Congress, a traditional opponent since the birth of the regional party in 1982. Describing the BJP the main enemy Naidu said that joining hands with the Congress in Telangana assembly election was a political imperative and a democratic compulsion.
“We have two alternatives. One is anti Congress and the other is anti-BJP. With the BJP going all out against us a compulsion has arisen that we need to sail with the parties that are against the BJP”, Naidu said.
Giving the reasons for treating BJP as the main opponent he said that it not only failed to fulfill the promises made to the state at the time of bifurcation but also conspiring to weaken the TDP. “This is not just the case with the TDP but other regional parties like Shiv Sena and Akali Dal were also being targeted by the BJP in a similar manner”, Naidu said.