Regional parties will form govt in ’19: Naidu
HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday said that a front of regional parties would form the next government at the Centre in 2019, hinting at a tie-up with like-minded parties to stop the BJP from coming to power.
“It will certainly not be the Bharatiya Janata Party that would come to power. The chances of the Congress-led coalition, too, are very bleak. I am confident it is going to be the regional parties which would come together and form the next government,” Naidu said in his inaugural address at the threeday annual conclave of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Mahanadu in Vijayawada.
The TDP president said the country had seen the formation of coalition governments led by regional parties twice in the past — the National Front government in 1989 and United Front government in 1996. On both occasions, the TDP had played a crucial role in bringing the regional parties together as an effective alternative to the Congress and the BJP.
That the regional parties had a national outlook was evident from the recent developments in Karnataka.
“They all set aside their respective regional interests, they all joined together to bring the Janata Dal (S)-led government in Karnataka to prevent the BJP from coming to power,” he said.
In the coming days, regional parties would display the same kind of unity to pull down the BJP from power at the Centre, and the TDP would play a crucial role in this process as it had done in the past, Naidu said.
The chief minister also called for a nation-wide debate on the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMS), since there had been allegations of tampering in favour of the BJP.
“It is true that technology would simplify the election process, but at the same time it is vulnerable to manipulations. That is why we have been insisting on introduction of a system wherein the voter would get a slip soon after pressing the button on EVM and the same slip could be dropped in a ballot box,” he said.
The TDP president accused the BJP of gaining a foothold in the south through backdoor politics. “In Tamil Nadu, they tried to gain hold over the AIADMK by misusing the institution of Governor. In Karnataka, it tried to grab power by indulging in horse trading. In Andhra Pradesh, the BJP is targeting the TDP by joining hands with corrupt YSR Congress party...” Naidu asserted.
‘KABZA’ OF TIRUMALA
Naidu also claimed that the Prime Minister was trying to “grab” the famed Lord Venkateshwara temple in Tirumala in Chittoor district.
“Narendra Modi desperately tried to do ‘kabza’ (grabbing) of Tirumala temple. His government sought to take over the temple through Archaeological Survey of India by getting declared a protected monument. But after seeing a stiff resistance from the temple, he backtracked,” Naidu said.