Grand alliance the answer, says Naidu

HYDERABAD: A democratic compulsion has brought like-minded opposition parties together against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruined institutions and misused constitutional bodies, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu said on Wednesday, insisting that it was not difficult to sustain the so-called grand opposition alliance.

In an interview to Hindustan Times, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief said the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had failed to build confidence or deliver on poll promises.

“The [Narendra] Modi government has done injustice to the nation. It has ruined the country’s economy. Intolerance towards the minorities and Dalits is growing,” he said.

He also drew a contrast between Modi and Gandhi, saying while he thought the Congress chief was “sincere and honest”, the prime minister was “arrogant”.

››FULL INTERVIEW , P8 BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh recorded a turnout of 74.61% as of 10pm, a rise of nearly 2.5 percentage points from the last assembly elections in 2013, even as complaints of malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and sporadic incidents of violence marred polling day in some parts of the largest of the five states going to polls.

The turnout figure might jump by another two percentage points once numbers come in from farflung districts, chief election officer V Kantha Rao said. The Congress, which is looking to dislodge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power after 15 years, complained that faulty EVMS in several areas stopped voters from exercising their franchise.

State Congress chief Kamal Nath demanded a repoll in booths where machines had malfunctioned and campaign committee chief Jyotiraditya Scindia wrote to chief election commissioner OP Rawat over the delayed voting and faulty EVM machines.

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