Anna TDP ready to form front

HYDERABAD, MAY 8: Launching a scathing attack against the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Congress for their “corrupt practices”, Anna Telugu Desam (ATDP) president N Harikrishna today said he was ready to forge alliances with other secular forces to fight the Lok Sabha elections.Addressing mediapersons here, he said the ATDP was in touch with the Left parties, CPI and CPM, on forming a new political front in Andhra Pradesh. These efforts would gain momentum after the announcement of the poll manifesto at the ATDP state-level convention on May 10, he explained.Though Harikrishna described the Congress as his “main enemy”, he expressed his resolve to fight the ruling TDP, which, according to him, was no longer the party founded by his late father N.T. Rama Rao. “This TDP has forsaken the ideals of my father,” he said.

Harikrishna said that Chief Minister Chandrabau Naidu had reduced the TDP to a “carbon copy” of the Congress. “Today, the TDP is no way different from the Congress. Corruptionhas gone up, the Chief Minister is adopting dictatorial attitudes and the people are being harassed by the government,” he asserted.

Asked about the prospects of the ATDP if polls were held to the Assembly along with those to the Lok Sabha, he said: “Our chances would be bright.” He did not agree with a suggestion that the ATDP’s presence in the fray might help the Congress.

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Harikrishna made it clear that he would not contest the Lok Sabha, saying: “I will never leave the State in the interest of my people.” On the possibility of Rajya Sabha member Mohan Babu and former minister Paritala Ravi joining him, he said: “We are all like brothers.”

Harikrihsna clarified that he wanted to save the TDP from the “clutches of an evil force”. He regretted that his efforts had gone in vain as the leadership could not live up to expectations. Harikrishna also criticised the conduct of the Mahila Janmabhoomi.