Andhra Pradesh deputy Chief Minister KE Krishnamurthy has taken an extreme stand against a possible alliance between ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Congress. Krishnamurthy said he was ready to ‘hang’ himself if the TDP-Congress tie-up became a reality.
The Andhra deputy CM also clarified that TDP would not align with any national party and will get to polls alone. “In no circumstances, there will be an alliance between the TDP and the Congress. If that happens, I am ready to hang myself. That’s because it was Andhra people who drove out the Congress. I think you guys are reacting because the CM (Chandrababu Naidu) went to Karnataka. But there is no chance of that happening here. We will not forge a tie-up with the Congress. It’s the party’s decision,” said Krishnamurthy.
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Murthy, however, said an alliance would be decided only ahead of the (general) elections. His remarks come at a time when talk about TDP cosying up to the Congress has become a hot political topic in the state after Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu rubbed shoulders with Rahul Gandhi in Bengaluru recently.
Some TDP leaders even tried to reason that the Congress promised to accord special category status to Andhra Pradesh if it returned to power at the Centre in 2019 and hence being pally with that party would do no harm.
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Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in an interview to a news magazine has said he was asked by Naidu and other leaders such as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to align with the Congress.