The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : Polarisation of political parties after election: Dattatreya

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Friday, Apr 23, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Polarisation of political parties after election: Dattatreya

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM, APRIL 22. Polarisation of political parties is likely after the current elections to the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister for Urban Development, Bandaru Dattatreya, said here on Thursday.

"The National Democratic Alliance under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee will certainly gain majority. Some of our old friends will come back to us after elections. The DMK has left us for some local reasons,'' Mr. Dattatreya said. He spoke to reporters after calling on the Leader of the Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party in the dissolved Lok Sabha, K. Yerran Naidu, who is undergoing treatment in a local hospital for the injuries he suffered in Monday's landmine blast near Srikakulam.

He expressed the confidence that the TDP in Andhra Pradesh and the NDA in the Centre would gain comfortable majorities. The Bharatiya Janata Party had faced some problems due to the TDP rebel candidates in the fray in some constituencies, but the TDP and BJP cadres worked together during the first phase and would continue to work in tandem in the second phase too, Mr. Dattatreya said. He blamed the Congress for the large-scale deletions in voters lists, because the party had made a lot of unnecessary noise over bogus voters and the officials removed the names in huge chunks.

The statement made by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, that the BJP and the Samajwadi Party had a deal exhibited the bankruptcy of the Congress and also indicated that it was going to lose badly, Mr. Dattatreya observed.

He condemned the naxalite attack on Mr. Yerran Naidu and felt that the TDP leader had survived by God's grace to continue his service to the people. It was also time for all political parties to come together to find a solution to the naxalite problem, the Union Minister said. Naxalites lacked commitment to take part in the talks initiated by the Government since they refused to quit arms, he felt.

The Minister for Forests, Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu, along with his wife, the member of the dissolved Lok Sabha, M.V.V.S. Murthi, the BJP Floor Leader in the dissolved Assembly, K. Haribabu, the senior BJP leader, P.V. Chalapathi Rao, the former MLA, T. Suryanarayana Reddy, were present when Mr. Dattatreya called on Mr. Yerran Naidu.

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