BJP quashes YSRC, NDA pact rumours

The Bharatiya Janata Party and YSR Congress on Saturday dismissed rumours of the latter joining the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre.

While the BJP sought to project its equidistant stand towards the Telugu Desam and YSRC, the ruling party maintained that it had no plans to join the Centre. The YSRC joining the Narendra Modi government was widely discussed following reports in a section of the media (not Deccan Chronicle) that the party was willing to join the Union Cabinet if it served the state’s interests better. These reports quoted municipal administration minister Botsa Satyanarayana.

The minister came out with a strong rebuttal on Saturday and dared the media which published the reports to prove that he actually utte-red anything on the YSRC joining the NDA government. “We have our ideology and the BJP has its own,” the minister said in a statement. The Chief Minister repeatedly meeting the Prime Minister and

Union ministers was only to maintain cordial relations with the Centre and get adequate Central funds, he added.

Seeing a conspiracy in spreading rumours of the YSRC joining the Centre, Mr Satyanarayana said the detractors of the ruling party including a section of media wanted to use this as an opportunity to create confusion and unrest among the minorities.

“They want to instigate minorities who posed great confidence on us by publishing such reports and when we deny the same they try to create a rift between us and the Centre,” the minister pointed out.

Elsewhere, BJP national secretary and AP in-charge Sunil Deodhar, who is touring the state, has categorically said the BJP had already forged an alliance with Jana Sena and both would fight the ensuing local body polls. “We have made it clear time and again that there will not be any tieup with Telugu Desam in future and there will be a straight fight between the YSRC and the BJP-Jana Sena combine in 2024,” he said.