Chandrababu Naidu hits back after Amit Shah's letter, says BJP left no option for TDP but to quit NDA

HYDERABAD: Hours after Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah wrote a letter to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu accusing him of quitting the National Democratic Alliance due to politics, the Telegu Desam Party chief has hit back. Responding to the letter, Naidu alleged that the BJP chief was trying to misrepresent the facts, hurting the sentiments of the Telugu people.  

"TDP had won local body elections before bifurcation. After bifurcation, people were in an insecure position so we allied with BJP for the welfare of the state. Amit Shah in his letter wrote we quit NDA for political reasons. But we did so in accordance with people's aspirations," Naidu said.

Defending the TDP's decision to quit the BJP-led NDA, Naidu said that it was done to respect the feelings of people, who were feeling betrayed by the Central government. He claimed that the NDA did not discharge its responsibility towards its ally and the state.

Taking a strong exception to the BJP President's remark that he was looking to divert the funds received from the Central government, Naidu said: "You may have that habit, I don't have." Slamming Shah for using some strong words in the letter, Naidu said it reflect the functioning of the Prime Minister`s Office (PMO).

Naidu read out excerpts of Shah's letter and made a point by point rebuttal to assert that the Central government failed to come to state's rescue. He also held Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Central government responsible for the 'unscientific division of Andhra Pradesh. "The unscientific division of the state pushed us 10 years back. Centre is responsible for that. You claim you're sensitive to our problems. But in reality, you too were equally responsible for passing bifurcation bill within 20 minutes behind closed doors," the Andhra Pradesh CM claimed.

He lamented that despite being the highest contributor to the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), the state is lagging behind. "Andhra Pradesh is the highest contributor to CGST. Despite our strong efforts and better development in GDP, Andhra is still lagging behind all the southern states in per capita income," Naidu said adding that the TDP is synonymous with development. 

Earlier in the day, Shah had written a nine-page letter to the TDP chief saying that the party's decision to quit the NDA was unilateral "guided wholly and solely by political considerations instead of development concerns". He had also described the allegations of the TDP chief that the BJP was not sensitive to the aspirations of the people of Andhra Pradesh as "untrue and baseless".