In a significant development, the Telugu Desam Party on Wednesday night decided to pull out of the Centre’s NDA government. With this decision, the TDP became the second party after Shiv Sena to part ways with the BJP-led alliance.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister took to Twitter to say that he had tried to reach out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi but the latter was unavailable. He wrote, “I tried reaching out to the Prime Minister to inform him about our decision. But sadly, he was unavailable.” His another tweet said that he was not angry with anyone but his party had no option but to leave the government to benefit the ‘people of Andhra Pradesh.’ He wrote, “I am not angry with anyone. This decision has been taken only to benefit the people of Andhra Pradesh.”
Naidu also accused the BJP government of taking one-sided decisions. He wrote, “The Centre has been taking one sided decisions and our patience has run out now. When the purpose of joining the union cabinet hasn’t been fulfilled, it’s best to resign now.”
The TDP has been demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh claiming that the BJP had agreed to do so as part of the pre-poll agreement. The Centre’s Modi government had refused to accede to the TDP’s demands.
After holding a marathon meeting with his party lawmakers, Naidu announced that his two ministers in the central government, YS Chowdary and Ashok Gajapati Raju, will resign from the cabinet on Thursday morning.
The party has 16 Lok Sabha MPs and six members in the Rajya Sabha.