New Delhi: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Monday claimed that the party has not endorsed any anti-Modi posters at the venue of the ongoing protest at Andhra Pradesh Bhawan.
“We don’t endorse it. It is not correct and it should not be done. It must not have been put by our party people,” TDP MP Jayadev Galla told ANI.
Later, the posters which read: “In whose hand the used teacups were supposed to be given, people gave him the country” were removed from the venue of the dharna.
Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu began his day-long hunger strike in Delhi on Monday.
Dressed in black as a mark of protest, Naidu and his party members and ministerial colleagues paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat before starting his protest.
Naidu is observing a hunger strike or ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ (a day-long protest for justice) against the central government over the issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh.
The chief minister is accompanied by his ministers, party MLAs, MLCs, and MPs in the hunger strike.
While addressing the gathering, Naidu, whose party pulled out of the NDA last year, alleged that the Centre is discriminating Andhra Pradesh.
The Chief Minister asserted that the TDP came to the national capital to explain to the nation the “injustice” done by the Centre to Andhra Pradesh.
Naidu “warned” the Centre and Prime Minister Modi to “stop attacking an individual” and said that the BJP will be washed out in Andhra Pradesh forever.
He claimed that the BJP is trying to divide the nation while the TDP is in the national capital to make people aware of the injustice being meted out to Andhra Pradesh.
The TDP pulled out of the BJP-led NDA over the “injustice” done to Andhra Pradesh after its bifurcation.
Termed ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ (a day-long protest for justice), the strike is being held at the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in Delhi. It is expected to go on till around 8 pm.
As per an official statement, Naidu will be submitting a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday.
Naidu, who has been pressing for special category status for Andhra Pradesh for long, had earlier staged similar protests against the Centre.
In October 2013, Naidu had staged an indefinite fast at the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan here, demanding that if a separate state is carved out of then unified Andhra Pradesh, both should get equal rights. On the fifth day of his protest, he was forcibly shifted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital after his health deteriorated.
He had also observed a fast in Vijayawada in April last year demanding special status for the state.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]