‘Ready to accept your return gift’: Chandrababu Naidu’s retort to KCR

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu Friday told his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao that his Telegu Desam Party (TDP) was ready to take on the Telangana Rashtra Samithi if it plans to contest in the state.

“I will not be cowed down by his threats and am ready to accept whatever the gift that comes from him (KCR),” Naidu said at a function in Visakhapatnam.

Naidu, whose TDP had contested the December 7 Telangana assembly elections as part of the Congress-led grand alliance, also said that he had never worked against the interests of Telangana while reacting to KCR, as the Telangana chief minister is popularly called, labelling him as a “traitor” to Telangana.

KCR’s Telangana swept back to power with an impressive victory in Telangana’s first full-fledged elections after it was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, securing 88 seats in the 119 member assembly while the Mahakootami, which also comprised the Telangana Jana Samithi and the Communist Party of India, faced a humiliating defeat.

Addressing a press conference after the results were declared on Tuesday, KCR said, “When Chandrababu from the neighbouring state gave me a gift, should I not return the same to him”, indicating his resolve to take revenge against Naidu in 2019 assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh by joining hands with his rivals YS Jaganmohan Reddy of the YSR Congress and Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party.

KCR had also talked of a national role for himself with a non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party front.

But Naidu was unfazed.

“Never in its history has the TDP run away from threats from any quarter. Instead, it steadfastly faced many a challenge under the stewardship of its founder NT Rama Rao right from its inception”, he said.

Naidu also reiterated his charge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is instigating KCR to work against the interests of Andhra Pradesh and Pawan and Jagan have colluded with KCR with tacit support from the BJP.