Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Sunday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “hollow” man who has “done nothing” for the country.
He also accused the Modi government of “denying” special category status to Andhra Pradesh, despite promising it in Parliament.
Naidu said Modi did nothing even for his home state Gujarat as its chief minister for 12 years, but made everyone believe he did “great things.”
“We all believed this. The whole country believed this but were left cheated,” the Chief Minister said in a continued diatribe against Modi. He also released a ‘white paper’ on “implementation” of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 and the “connected assurances,” here, targeting primarily the PM.
“A leader makes all the difference. We believed what all Narendra Modi said. What is Narendra Modi today… hollow,” Naidu remarked. The prime minister had been campaigning that there was no great leader than him, he alleged, adding “but he is no good.”
Naidu also alleged that Modi was seeking to blackmail everyone using “muscle power” and spending “tonnes and tonnes of money” to win elections. “Since you have money, you are spending tonnes and tonnes to buy votes. Why are you not abolishing Rs 2000 and Rs 500 notes? You are ruining the country and you are responsible for that. Many are forced to do wrong things because of your acts,” the Telugu Desam Party chief said.
If the currency notes of Rs 2000 and Rs 500 denominations were not available, people would vote only for those who do good, he said. “Even if one indulges in corruption, there will be no scope for hoarding (of illicit money)”, Naidu said.
He also ridiculed the Central government for “teaching grammar” to the Supreme Court, in the context of its recent ruling on Rafale deal. “There are grammar mistakes in the sealed cover (presented by the Centre in the Rafale case) to the Supreme Court. What do you call them? They are teaching grammar to the SC… What is the difference between a sealed cover and an actual cover? What credibility they have?” he questioned.
He also said the Prime Minister did not have the right to talk about anything in the country. Referring to Gujarat, Naidu said Telangana had a better per capita income than Gujarat. “What justice did Modi do to Gujarat, being its CM for 12 years? Telangana is ahead of Gujarat in terms of per capita income. Soon, AP too would overtake it,” he claimed.
It was only out of fear that AP would overtake Gujarat in all respects that the Modi government was denying special category status to the state, though promised in Parliament, Naidu alleged, adding that the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act too were not being implemented.
The 32-page white paper listed the “injustices” done to AP post-bifurcation (in June 2014) and accused the Centre of making no efforts to sort out the differences between AP and Telangana.