Who’s Playing Double Games Here, Chandrababu?  

Kommineni Srinivasa Rao

Leaders of the Telugu Desam party make bizarre allegations. BJP leader in Andhra Pradesh, Somu Veera Raju said that Chandrababu Naidu epitomised corruption. He wondered how a farmer who once owned two acres of land could amass assets worth
thousands of crores of rupees. He alleged that the funds sent by the Centre
to AP, were being diverted. Instead of responding to his allegations of corruption
being indulged in by the top TDP leadership, the ruling party leaders are trying to divert attention on to the Leader of the Opposition in AP legislative assembly, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

One of Chandrababu Naidu‘s ministers K. Srinivas and other party MLAs accused
the YSRCP President of neglecting the interests of the state and of indulging in what they called a double game. Where does the problem actually lie? What is the TDP doing? What did Chandrababu Naidu himself claim till recently? He kept harping on the fact that he would not get into a confrontationist mode with the Centre
and that he would maintain harmonious relations with it for getting due benefits to the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh.

In fact the AP chief minister accused YS Jagan and the opposition parties of creating a rift between him and the union government. Is this not true? Now he does a complete U-turn and claims that he has been in the forefront of the fight for justice to Andhra Pradesh. He boasts that he will not climb down and will not budge until the state gets its due. When Chandrababu Naidu says that he will not yield, does this mean that his MPs will continue as ministers in the union cabinet? What about the funds due
to the state from the centre? What is the total quantum? How much has
AP received? How did AP spend the funds which were given to it? Did the state send the utilisation certificates for the funds which it had received? Why is a
White Paper not being released on this issue? It appears as if Chandrababu Naidu is busy trying to blame the Prime Minister and the BJP for the situation.

Around the same time, BJP leader in Andhra Pradesh Somu
Veera Raju lashed out at Chandrababu Naidu and the Telugu Desam party in the strongest of terms. In fact, he took them to the cleaners, as they say. It is in this context that it is very strange for the Telugu Desam party to broach the topic of YS Jagan. For the Telugu Desam party to say that Somu Veera Raju of the BJP is an agent of
YS Jagan is shocking, to say the least. Just because Chandrababu Naidu or other party leaders criticise the BJP, do they become agents of the Congress party?

BJP leaders say that this year the Centre had released INR 31,000 crores under various heads of account to Andhra Pradesh. Is this true? Why doesn’t the TDP issue a clarification on this? A few months ago the TDP had claimed that the Centre was extending its cooperation. In fact it was none other than Chandrababu Naidu himself who said this. Now after four years, to claim that the Centre had not done justice to Andhra Pradesh in the fifth budget and to create such an impression is strange indeed! Why is the TDP even doing this? Is this not duplicity? Does this not amount to playing a double game?

Read: Chandrababu Naidu Is A Past Master At ‘Leaks’

In fact, if anyone is a past master at duplicity, it is indeed Chandrababu Naidu.
Prior to 1998 he had said that BJP was a communal party which destroyed mosques. This was Chandrababu’s criticism of the BJP back then. Later, Chandrababua
nd his party extended support to Atal Behari Vajpayee's National front. But that was short-lived, because Chandrababu soon pulled away. Liquor ban, 2 rupees kg rice
were among Chandrababu’s signature schemes in the implementation of which you could see the discrepancy between thought and action. At first, he described
the then Gujarat Chief Minister and the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi as someone responsible for genocide and had demanded that he be dismissed. However,
the same Chandrababu Naidu went in for a tie-up with Modi and the BJP
and went to great lengths to achieve this. Speaking of the special category status saying that it is needed for 15 years, passing a resolution in the assembly, later claiming that special category status is not necessary, but that the package is more important and is better for the state of Andhra Pradesh
—how does one reconcile these statements of Chandrababu Naidu? At one point he
asked whether special category status is a Sanjeevani or magic cure? We find this kind of dichotomy and duplicity in Chandrababu Naidu in many aspects.

Read: Chandrababu Answerable To the People On Special Status For AP: YS Jagan

On the other hand, has YS Jagan ever changed his stance on special category status to Andhra Pradesh? Is it not true that when the Leader of the Opposition in the AP Assembly went to Vishakhapatnam to fight for special category status, he was arrested at the airport itself? Did YS Jagan ever change his stand on the question of defectors? What about the horse-trading of MLAs indulged in by Chandrababu Naidu? Is it not true that if YS Jagan had indulged in double talk he could have easily stayed in power to this day? He would not have been subjected to so much suffering. In reality, those who have a forked tongue get away with everything. But one cannot fool all the people all the time. The decline of values in the Telugu Desam party itself is a cause of worry for its followers and well-wishers.