lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Mar 30, 2019 17:47 IST

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who referred to Telugu Desam Party president as “U-turn Babu” at an election rally in Adnhra Pradesh’s Kurnool a day before.

Naidu posted a series of tweets using hashtag #ModiIsAMistake pointing to 2014 parliamentary elections which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party win 282 seat winning single-party majority in the Lok Sabha after 30 years. The TDP chief accused PM Modi of resorting to “lies” in his public speeches ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

“Coming from the land of Mahatma Gandhi, if you had any respect for him, you would not have resorted to such lies. The whole country now knows that being in power matters the most to you,” Naidu wrote on the micro-blogging site.

Launching sharp attack on PM Modi, Naidu said, “Mother India would have never thought that she would see a Prime Minister like you. Are you not ashamed to act in favour of the culprit who has 12 criminal cases? Why are you rolling out the red carpet for him in your office?”

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister was responding to PM Modi’s stinging remarks against him at an election rally in the state on Friday. PM Modi said, “When we raised the question on corruption, the U-Turn Babu snapped ties with the National Democratic Alliance.”

Naidu was part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) till 2017 when he walked out of the ruling coalition alleging discrimination against Andhra Pradesh, for which he sought special category status from the Centre. The Modi government cited technical difficulties in not granting the special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

The prime minister also took potshot at Naidu’s alliance with the Congress saying, “Now he has joined up with people who ride the bail gaadi.”

In his riposte, Naidu wrote on Twitter: “You are not Chowkidar, you are Bakhidar. You have not fulfilled the promises of special status, railway zone, metro rail, Kadapa steel plant. Is it not your conspiracy against AP?”

Naidu has been campaigning for past several months to present a united front against the BJP-led ruling coalition in the national election. He has played instrumental role behind two mega rallies of the Opposition parties in January and February this year.

The first rally was organised in Kolkata by the Trinamool Congress of Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal chief minister while the second was hosted by the Aam Aadmi Party of Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi chief minister. The Congress participated in both the rallies.

Andhra Pradesh will vote in simultaneous elections to the 175-member assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the first phase on April 11.