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Updated: Apr 12, 2018 20:40 IST

A “war” against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had begun, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Thursday equating Modi’s rule with the British Raj.

“The people will not give up the fight till they pull down the government,” added president of the Telugu Desam Party that pulled out of the BJP-led NDA last month over the Centre’s failure to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

“Modi has betrayed the faith we had reposed in the last four years. Now, it is time to wage a war against him and teach him a befitting lesson for his great betrayal,” Naidu said after inaugurating the Andhra Pradesh Police Technology Centre at Amaravati, the proposed capital of the bifurcated state.

Earlier in the day, while interacting with his cabinet colleagues, Naidu said there was no difference between the British government (of pre-Independence period) and the present BJP government at the Centre.

“Have you ever seen a Prime Minister going on hunger strike in the history of the country? He is trying to blame it on the people of the state for his inability to run the Parliament. He is trying to instigate his party cadre against us and gain political mileage,” Naidu alleged.

The TDP president claimed that Modi had denied special category status and other benefits to Andhra Pradesh only because of political reasons.

“Now, he is trying to provoke other states against us. He takes pleasure in stalling development of our state. Unfortunately, some parties in the state are supporting Modi for their own political benefits,” he said.

Referring to the state-wide bandh call given by “Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samithi” (Committee to achieve special category status for AP) on April 16 to protests against the BJP government’s denial of special status to the state, the chief minister said strikes and shutdowns would cause more harm to the state than highlighting the issue.

“We need to educate the people against the Modi government and take the battle to Delhi. What is the point in stalling the development in the state? It will make Modi happier,” he added.

BJP leaders take up deeksha in support of Modi

Meanwhile, the BJP leaders, including MPs, MLAs and MLCs, took part in one-day deeksha in different parts of the state to express their solidarity with the Prime Minister and BJP president Amit Shah staged one-day fasting to register their protest against recent Parliament logjam.

On the other hand, activists of TDP, Left parties and other organisations demanding special category status protested against the one-day-long fast undertaken by BJP leaders across the state on Thursday.

In Vijayawada, Eluru, Bhimavaram and Visakhapatnam the agitators were taken into police custody as they came into blows with the BJP activists. In several places TDP Legislators and workers undertook Padayatra’s protesting against BJP leader’s hunger strike.

Alleging that the TDP was behind these attacks, BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao, who sat on fast in Vijayawada Dharna Chowk, said that permission to hold the day-long fast in Lenin Centre was denied at the behest of the ruling TDP.

State BJP president Kambhampati Haribabu in Visakhapatnam said that Naidu and the city police commissioner Yoganand had provided moral support to the attackers.