Hyderabad, April 29: The politics in Andhra Pradesh has taken an interesting turn with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), an alliance partner of BJP, assuring Muslims that it will protect four percent reservation in the state.
While the BJP is opposing reservation for Muslims and even promising to repeal the same in Telangana, its ally TDP is assuring the community that there is no threat to the four percent quota in jobs and employment.
Going a step ahead, TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu has promised on Sunday that Rs 1 lakh financial assistance will be extended to every Muslim for Haj pilgrimage.
TDP is contesting next month’s Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the state in alliance with the BJP and Jana Sena Party.
Chandrababu Naidu-led party recently returned to the BJP-led NDA. At a time when BJP is indulging in anti-Muslim rhetoric with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself attacking Muslims in his speeches, the TDP is trying to woo Muslims, who constitute 7 percent of the state’s population.
As Muslims are believed to have moved away from TDP after it re-joined the NDA, Naidu is trying to assure the community that he joined the alliance only for the state’s development.
The ruling YSR Congress Party is also cautioning Muslims against backing Naidu and it is citing the inflammatory speeches of the BJP leaders.
On reservation, Naidu assured a meeting of Muslims in Nellore district on April 28 that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is resorting to false propaganda that the reservations for Muslims will be repealed if the NDA comes to power. Four percent reservation for Muslims was given in combined Andhra Pradesh when Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was the chief minister.
Chandrababu stated that though the TDP was part of the NDA even in the past, it never allowed any kind of injustice to be done to the community. He promised the Muslim community that after coming to power, the NDA will revive all schemes for their welfare which were scanned by the YSR Congress government and new schemes will also be launched.
He assured the community that the remaining 10 percent work on residential schools for Muslim students will be completed within six months of forming the NDA government.
The TDP president also targeted YSRCP over extending unconditional support for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Parliament. He also claimed that YSRCP backed the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Chandrababu Naidu said that the entire Muslim community is known for trust and courage and they always believe in hard work. He believes that the community is playing a significant role in all sectors. The former chief minister observed that if there are no Muslims, there will be no development. The majority of the community depends on auto repair works in all urban areas in the two Telugu states, he said.
“Muslim brethren in Hyderabad are far ahead of their community in other parts of the country, and in fact the world, because of the initiatives taken by the TDP when it was in power,” said Naidu, who was chief minister of combined Andhra Pradesh from 1995 to 2004.
He recalled that it was during the TDP rule that direct flights were introduced for Haj pilgrimage.
Recalling that Urdu University was established in Hyderabad during the TDP regime and when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the prime minister, he said, Haj House too was built by the then TDP government.
After bifurcation in 2014, Naidu became the first chief minister of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. During the 2014 elections, Naidu was an alliance partner of BJP. However, in 2018 he snapped ties with BJP and turned a bitter critic of Narendra Modi
However, in 2019 elections Muslims supported YSRCP, which wrested power from TDP with a landslide majority.
However, with Jagan’s party supporting all controversial legislations of the BJP-led government at the Centre, sections of the Muslim community felt betrayed.
However, with TDP once again joining hands with the BJP, the community appears to be divided on which party to support.
YSRCP, which is contesting the elections on its own, is also assuring Muslims that it will safeguard their interests. The Congress party, which is looking to revive its political fortunes in the state, is targeting both YSRCP and TDP. Interestingly the grand old party is now headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister Y.S. Sharmila Reddy. However, the Congress party is yet to recover fully from the shocks of 2014 and 2019, when it failed to win a single Assembly or Lok Sabha seat due to public anger over the state’s bifurcation.
Simultaneous elections to the 175-member Assembly and all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state are scheduled on May 13.
The TDP has left 21 Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats to Jana Sena Party led by actor politician Pawan Kalyan. Naidu has also allotted 10 Assembly and six Lok Sabha seats for BJP. Naidu’s party is contesting 144 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats.
