BJP will be decimated in Andhra: TDP MP with American accent who opened attack on Modi govt
NEWDELHI: Reminding Prime Minister Narendra Modi of what he had promised in front of Lord Balaji, the presiding deity at the famous Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in the Triumala hills, a furious Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Friday cursed the Bharatiya Janata Party(bjp) that it would be decimated in Andhra Pradesh in the 2019 elections.
Jayadev Galla, the Us-educated MP from Guntur , noted that the BJP’S 2014 manifesto had promised to give Andhra Pradesh five years’ special category status, which would have entitled it to central grants and other incentives, after it was bifurcated to create Telangana.
“In front of Lord Balaji, you promised special status. You asked us to choose Scheme Andhra or Scam Andhra. Why should we have confidence and trust in you? BJP would be decimated in Andhra Pradesh if you don’t fulfil promises,” Galla said in the debate on the no-confidence motion against the Bjp-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The TDP pulled out of the ruling NDA in March over the government’s denial of special category status to Andhra Pradesh. It initiated t he no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, saying the Centre’s argument that the 14th Finance Commission was against special status for states was misleading.
Galla claimed that Modi had misled and deceived the people of Andhra Pradesh.
“Do you have respect for what your predecessor (Manmohan Singh) had promised? How can we function if the word of PM is not fulfilled?” Gall said.
TDP functionaries said that on Thursday evening, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu had given clear instructions to party MPS though video conference on what to say in Parliament. The TDP, which will face both Lok Sabha and assembly polls next year, is set to make the Centre’s refusal to give special status to Andhra Pradesh its key poll plank.
Galla’s speech, a mixture of emotion and facts, laid the ground for the future electoral battles. “It’s a blunder to say that the 14th Finance Commission has not recommended special status. We want the union cabinet to take a decision. The Parliament can give us special status,” said Galla.
Referring to the statue of Sardar Patel being built in Gujarat, Galla said, “Statues are getting more funding than the new capital of Andhra Pradesh. We got just ₹1,500 crore to build Amravati. PM Modi wants to build Dholera (a city in Gujrata) as Shanghai. But AP can’t get a world-class city. He promised us all help to build Amaravati in front of Lord Balaji.”
The TDP MP added that on a per capita basis, backward districts of Andhra Pradesh received a tenth of what Bundlekhand got.
“I want to quote what Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had said. It will be a folly to ignore reality. Facts take their own revenge,” he said.
In Rajya Sabha, TDP protested against an official press release that suggested that TDP is politically isolated. Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday ordered a probe into a matter. BENGALURU: Usually when a no-confidence motion is moved, the party initiating it fields somebody very senior to attack the government of the day. So most people outside the Telugu speaking states were surprised when the TDP fielded a virtually unknown first time MP, to lay out its case. Those who tuned into TVS would also have been surprised at the strong American accent with which this MP put up a barrage of charges against the government.
For observers of Andhra politics, though, the speaker, 52-yearold Jayadev Galla, was no stranger. They also would not have been surprised that N Chandrababu Naidu chose him to lead the party’s attack in Parliament. While Galla might be a first time MP from Guntur, he has an impressive lineage.
Galla’s maternal grandfather Paturi Rajagopala Naidu was a freedom fighter, and, more importantly, the political mentor of Naidu. Both Rajagopala, affectionately called Rajanna, and Naidu belong to Andhra’s Chittor. Rajagopala was himself twice an MP, having won on the Swatantra Party ticket. Along with Prof NG Ranga, it was Rajanna who originally helped build the Swatantra party against Congress dominance in the state, but he eventually joined hands with the Congress.
While his political successor was his daughter Aruna Kumari, Rajanna was quick to see the leadership potential of Naidu and helped groom him to not only become an MLA but also one of the ministers in the Congress cabinet of Tanguturi Anjaiah. Naidu never forgot that , even though he later left the Congress to join the TDP party started by his father-in-law.
Aruna Kumari, who, by then, was married to Ramchandra Naidu Galla — an NRI who had returned to set up Amar Raja Batteries — went onto become a three-time MLA from Chandragiri. Aruna became a minister in several Congress governments in undivided Andhra. After Andhra’s division and the decimation of the Congress in the state, Aruna joined TDP before the 2014 elections. Though Aruna was defeated, her son Jayadev Galla, who was largely educated abroad, contested from Guntur on a TDP ticket, and won easily. Thus it was not a surprise to AP political observers that Chandra Babu decided to field the suave, well-educated Galla to present the state’s case.
Galla, while speaking, referred to Tollywood movie Bharat Ane Nenu and how the protagonist, an NRI who returns to India, always remembers that a “promise is a promise”. Interestingly, the movie’s hero , Mahesh Babu, is his brother-in-law.
In front of Lord Balaji, you promised special status. You asked us to choose Scheme Andhra or Scam Andhra. Why should we have confidence in you? BJP will be decimated in Andhra if you don’t fulfil promises
JAYADEV GALLA, TDP’S member of Parliament