TDP Lok Sabha candidate from Visakhapatnam, the Stanford-educated 29-year-old M Sri Bharat, has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of cheating Andhra Pradesh by denying it special status.
Bharat said there was no Modi wave in Andhra Pradesh and he was confident of romping home in the coming polls. He is keen to keep alive the political legacy of his grandfather MVVS Murthi who was elected from the seat for two terms.
But it is early in the day as he has to contend with YSRC’s Jaganmohan Reddy who has been drawing impressive crowds at his election meetings. Ironically, it is Narendra Modi who has to bear the brunt of the TDP leaders’ vitriolic attacks at election rallies. Nearly two months ago, the sudden demise of his grandfather and former two-time Lok Sabha MP MVVS Murthi catapulted Sri Bharat to the centrestage of Andhra politics.
Soft-spoken and cordial by nature, the young politician these days divides his time between ‘Gitam Deemed-to-be-University’, set up by his grandfather and Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency. He will be contesting from the seat and has begun campaigning and seeking votes in the name of his grandfather.
With the YSRC, Jana Sena and Congress gearing up for a battle royal it is going to be an interesting contest. He has begun his daily mass contact campaign, meeting people, posing for ‘selfies’ with a smile.
Speaking to The Statesman in the sidelines of a public meeting at Visakhapatnam, Bharat exuded confidence over his party’s chances in both the Lok Sabha and assembly polls to be held simultaneously. He, however, accused the Prime Minister of backing out on his promises on the development of the reconstituted state of Andhra Pradesh after a separate state of Telangana was carved out of it. He says there is only one wave — yellow wave (colour of TDP flag) — in the state, and no Modi wave.
Quizzed on the issue of the ‘fragile’ Opposition unity and their ability to take on Modi in the Lok Sabha elections, which will be held alongside the assembly polls, Bharat said the TDP’s aim is to align with like-minded parties. He referred to the recent joint rally by TDP, Trinamul Congress and AAP to corroborate his point.
“We (Opposition parties) can work with good intentions. We are working for the five crore people of Andhra Pradesh, for the welfare of the country and its institutions. We want to align with like-minded people. This was the purpose of the three parties’ (TDP, AAP, TMC) election rally in Visakhapatnam,” the TDP leader said.
The top leadership of the TDP, including Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Bharat have been unsparing in their attack against PM Modi over the issue of special status for Andhra Pradesh after a new state of Telangana was carved out of it.
“He (Modi) left Andhra a ‘anaath’ state after having promised all assistance to build infrastructure for the new state capital. Modi is no issue in Andhra Pradesh. The state has been left ‘anaath (orphaned),” said Bharat. He said the five crore people of the state have been going through a financial distress.
Financial assistance has been sought from the Centre to build infrastructure. “But we have got nothing from the Centre so far. We felt cheated. But we will continue the fight for our right,” the TDP leader said.
In response to a pointed question on what had sparked off the TDP-BJP confrontation and final separation, Bharat compared the fight between the two parties to one between married couples.
“It’s like a marriage. You don’t seek divorce from each other at the first fight. None would want to discuss all these in public for fear of being shamed. But the fight goes on behind closed doors. We had to call for the divorce. It was ugly. It is ugly,” he said, admitting that it had caused suffering to the state. “Obviously (we have been suffering)… But personal enmity and egoistic battles should not affect the five crore population of the state,” Bharat said.
The TDP candidate accused both the BJP and Congress of cheating the people of the state. “That’s true. Both the Congress and the BJP cheated us. It you look back at the track record of the last two decades or so you will find that most of the southern states have been at the receiving end of any assistance from the central government,” he pointed out. He also denied the opposition’s claim that the TDP had failed to deliver during the last five years of its rule in the state. He said for the last four years the Opposition was nowhere to be seen in the assembly. He accused the opposition of stalling the government’s developmental initiatives.
“Right now the principal opposition party in Andhra Pradesh is YSRC. We have to see if the rest of the opposition parties could save their deposits or not. We are expecting to win majority of the Lok Sabha seats this time round,” M Sri Bharat claimed in response to another question.