Serious consequences if State division is ‘irrational’: Naidu

• Alleges govt bias towards Kuppam constituency
• Accuses Sonia of hiring TRS & adopting YSRCP
• To conclude his 2-day campaign today

Chittoor: Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday warned of serious consequences if the Centre went ahead with State’s division in an ‘irrational’ manner.

Addressing a series of meetings in his constituency of Kuppam, the Opposition leader said the Centre, with the ‘tacit’ support of the TRS and the YSRCP, was making moves to divide the State under Article 3, so as to bypass the Assembly resolution. He joked that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had taken the ‘TRS on hire’ and ‘adopted the YSRCP’ to implement her plans.

Naidu asserted that State’s bifurcation was a national issue and called for equal justice (`sama nyayam') to all regions before going ahead with the division. He claimed that former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had in fact proposed the division in 1999.

He accused the government of showing bias towards his constituency, continuing the ‘vindictive’ attitude of YSR, who ‘shifted’ the Israel project from Kuppam to Pulivendula, when he was the Chief Minister. On the status of Hyderabad, he said the TDP alone had the right to talk about it as the City achieved a phenomenal growth during his regime.

Naidu, who arived from Bengaluru, began his two-day campaign with road-side meetings at Siddauru, Venkataiahpalem and Boyanapalli, in Santhipuram mandal. He addressed public meetings at Santhipuram and Makuppam.

At the meetings, he blasted the government for ‘inefficiency’, ‘rampant corruption’ and ‘utter failure’ to control prices, hitting the common man hard. It was neglecting both welfare schemes and development works. He urged youth to fight corruption.

Taking exception to the administration confining the ‘Rachabanda’ programme to the mandal headquarters, he said it was only keen on deriving publicity and shy to go to villages for fear of facing people’s wrath. He wondered how Y S Jagan, A1 in the disproportionate assets case, could secure bail.

At Thammaiyapalli, he inaugurated `Intinta TDP' programme taken up by the Kuppam unit. Chitoor MP N Siva Prasad and other party leaders were present.