Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu sought to project himself as pro-Muslim by organising a big meeting of Muslim minorities of Guntur recently and announcing various sops for the Muslims.
Obviously, he was trying to get closer to the Muslims, who had been angry with him for forging alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party all these years.
Now that he has severed ties with the BJP, he wants to paint the saffron party as a villain and prove that the YSRC is getting closer to the BJP.
But the YSR Congress party has raised the fundamental question as to why the Muslims should believe Naidu and vote for the TDP in the next elections.
“This is not the first time that Naidu has cheated the Muslims. He aligned with the BJP for five years between 1999 and 2004 and then when he lost power, he broke the alliance blaming it on the BJP,” YSRC official spokesman Ambati Rambabu said.
He pointed out that during Naidu’s earlier stint and also in the latest stint, he had not done anything for the Muslims.
“It was former chief minister late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy who brought a new light in the lives of the Muslims by implementing four per cent reservations for Muslims in education and employment, for the first time in the country. The Muslims still say YSR Hamara,” he said.
Ambati alleged that the Chandrababu Naidu government had spent crores of rupees of public money to organise Muslims expecting that they would say TDP Hamara.
“They are very much aware what he has done for them and what YSR had done. Naidu had not taken even a single Muslim into his cabinet. When the Muslim youth questioned his cheating, he got them arrested and beaten by the police. What arrogance is this?” Ambati asked.