TDP-BJP break up? Naidu holds crucial party meet

NEW DELHI: Days after NDA member Telugu Desam Party (TDP) expressed "disappointment" with the Budget , the party on Sunday vowed to "continue pressurising the Centre" for allocations to Andhra Pradesh, reported ANI.

"During the meeting, Union Budget 2018 and (the matter of) no allocations to Andhra Pradesh were discussed. We will continue pressurising the Centre for it. We will also raise the matter in Parliament, if it is needed," said minister of state for science and technology YS Chowdary after TDP's parliamentary board meeting at Amravati.

He added that party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had not spoken to the Shiv Sena , a BJP ally which recently decided to go solo in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.


"There has been no communication between Amit Shah and the CM either," Chowdary said.

The meeting with party MPs, senior MLAs and leaders was reportedly called to review the TDP's ties with ally BJP.

Naidu is said to be upset with the alliance partner over the poor allocation for the state in the Union Budget, reported ANI.

Before the meeting, leaders of the TDP, which is the BJP's biggest ally in the South, remained non-committal about the future of the alliance.

"Whatever CM decides, we will stand by it, but we are not happy with the BJP budget. (We are) not happy with the budget allotted to Andhra Pradesh," ANI quoted TDP MP P Ravindra Babu as saying.

Another MP, Kesineni Srinivas, said: "Whatever is good for state, we'll do it."

Speculation over the state of the BJP-TDP relationship has been making the rounds ever since finance minister Arun Jaitley presented the Budget in Parliament on February 1.

Chowdary had claimed about the Budget that several issues face by Andhra Pradesh had not been addressed by the Centre.

(With inputs from agencies)