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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  TDP walks the talk, formally exits NDA
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TDP walks the talk, formally exits NDA

TDP quits NDA over the issue of a special status for Andhra Pradesh, moves a second no-confidence motion against the NDA after YSR Congress

A file photo of Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Nadu with PM Narendra Modi. The exit of the TDP is significant because it means that the NDA is not in power in any state in the southern part of the country. Photo: PTIPremium
A file photo of Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Nadu with PM Narendra Modi. The exit of the TDP is significant because it means that the NDA is not in power in any state in the southern part of the country. Photo: PTI

New Delhi/Hyderabad: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), under Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, walked out of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Friday.

TDP is the second ally, after former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, to part ways with the NDA in less than a month. The exit of the TDP is significant because it means that the NDA is not in power in any state in the southern part of the country.

“Telugu Desam Party has decided to officially exit the National Democratic Alliance due to failure in fulfilling the promises made in the State Reorganisation Act. This decision was taken unanimously, in a teleconference with Politburo members, today," Naidu said on Twitter on Friday.

Two more allies, the Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), have expressed their reservations. Shiv Sena has already passed a resolution announcing that it will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and Maharashtra assembly elections on its own.

“We are fighting a dharma yuddham (crusade) against the Centre to secure our state’s legitimate rights. TDP has a credibility at the national level, so many parties are coming forward to support us. I will soon speak to those who are ready to support us," Naidu told reporters.

TDP’s decision to leave NDA comes just days after union ministers Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Y.S. Chowdary, who are TDP members, resigned from the union cabinet resigned on 8 March making their displeasure known to the BJP leadership.

“We joined the NDA in the first place only to protect our state’s interests in the aftermath of bifurcation. We waited for four years with the hope that the Centre will honour all the promises but it only meted out injustice to us," Naidu said.

Naidu has been at loggerheads with the centre and BJP over funding to Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget 2018, ever since it was released in February, claiming that the state was not given its due.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley rejected the charges. “We have been waiting endlessly for a response from Andhra Pradesh to resolve the special package issue," Jaitley had said.

Meanwhile, the main opposition in Andhra Pradesh, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) moved a no-confidence motion against the union government on Thursday while the TDP moved a similar motion on Friday in Lok Sabha. Both neither motion could be taken up as the House witnessed repeated adjournments.

Both the YSRCP and the TDP need support of at least 50 Members of Parliament (MPs) for the no-confidence motion.

The no-confidence motion against the government has received support from Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM.

The Congress has been more cautious. “We have been supporting special category status for AP since the beginning. We want that people of AP to get justice. When no-confidence motion is moved you have to talk about government’s failures, we are contacting a lot of people," Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress’s leader in Lok Sabha told news agency ANI. West Bengal chief minister and chief of Trinamool Congress (TMC) Mamata Banerjee has welcomed TDP’s decision to quit the NDA indicating that she too could offer support to the no-confidence motion.

PTI contributed to the story.

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Published: 16 Mar 2018, 09:40 AM IST
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