Andhra Pradesh - Kadapa   

Ramachandraiah quits TDP, RS

KADAPA: Rajya Sabha member C. Ramachandraiah announced his decision to resign from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Upper House at a public meeting here on Friday, saying he was doing so in ‘public interest’. Former Proddatur legislator M.V. Ramana Reddy too resigned from the party.

“Quitting TDP after two-and-half decades makes me sad,” Mr. Ramachandraiah said. Describing TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu as a close friend, he said he differed with him on the party’s policy decisions. “He took unilateral decisions that were not in public interest and thrust them on the party as if they were collective decisions,” he alleged.

“I tried in vain to change his views several times and convinced that he would not change, I took this decision,” he asserted. He recalled how Mr. Naidu supported formation of Chhattisgarh and two other States, while opposing statehood for Telangana. He got MLAs suspended when they demanded the text of the erstwhile TDP government’s agreement with the World Bank and now he wanted the text of the Indo-US nuclear agreement to be made public, the MP said.

Mr. Ramachandraiah said he opposed Mr. Naidu’s decision to prematurely dissolve the Assembly in 2004 on the naxal issue, saying it would amount to admitting failure of law and order in his nine and half year-rule, but he did not budge. His suggestion in the core committee meeting in 2004 to waive power dues of Rs. 1,100 crores was not accepted. In contrast, Mr. Naidu now promised free rice, power and pucca houses, which smacked of utter lack of financial discipline.

Recalling that N.T. Rama Rao had founded TDP with an objective of social justice but could not fulfil the ‘mahayagna’, Mr. Ramachandraiah and Dr. Ramana Reddy hoped that film actor Chiranjeevi would do so after floating his party with pro-people politics.

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