Tie-up with NDA a mistake, says Naidu

TDP president Chandrababu Naidu set the mood for “reconciliation” with popular vote banks at the ongoing Mahanadu by declaring that the party’s alliance with the BJP-led NDA was a “grave political mistake.”

To earn the confidence of his party men and signal that he is a changed person, Naidu appeared for the first time in his political career in a white dhoti on the Mahanadu dais, much to the delight of the audience. In an effort to woo the support of NTR’s kin, Naidu warned his party men not to project his son Nara Lokesh as TDP’s Chittoor district president as it would vitiate harmony in the party.

In perhaps the first outburst against the BJP since his colossal defeat in the 2004 and 2009 polls, Naidu recounted at the ongoing Mahanadu that circumstances and his conviction to provide a stable government at the Centre in those days drove him into the lap of the BJP.

Naidu also regretted to to state government employees for  some of the measures against them and said he would try to make amends by fighting for their welfare in the coming days.

“Do not nurse our old mistakes in your heart,” Naidu pleaded, addressing both employees and minorities. The three-day mela of the TDP came to an end with Naidu getting unanimously elected party president once again.

The state BJP was not amused with Naidu’s tongue lashing. “Naidu used the BJP to promote himself after he rose to power back-stabbing his father-in-law but now he is blaming us for his failures that led to the TDP’s downfall in the state,” said BJP leader N Ramachandra Rao.