Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party head Chandrababu Naidu expressed disappointment over yesterday’s Union Budget for not addressing needs of the state. Naidu called for an emergency meeting of his party to decide on the future course of association with Bharatiya Janata Party.
Just after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley delivered the Budget yesterday, senior TDP leader and union minister YS Chowdhary addressed reporters and said his party is upset over lack of monetary allocation for many issues relating to Andhra Pradesh, like Polavaram project and funding for new state capital Amravati.
Chowdhary said that the party will consider three options during its meeting: either try and continue the alliance, or make their MPs resign, or else simply terminate their association with BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. He said the party will come to a decision by Sunday.
This is not the first time cracks have occurred between BJP and TDP. Just last week Chandrababu Naidu served an ultimatum to BJP, saying that his party is willing to split away and chart its own course if they don’t wish to stay with them.
TDP is BJP’s biggest political ally in the southern part of India. Their rift had provided fodder to other disgruntled allies like Shiv Sena, who have also in the past publicly slammed BJP for not treating its allies properly.