TDP won’t join stir

The TDP politburo on Monday decided not to associate itself with the BJP’s proposed nation-wide agitation against Sonia Gandhi becoming prime minister because of her foreign origin. The TDP is one of the key allies of the NDA, headed by the BJP.

The politburo felt that it ought to take an independent stand on major issues. ‘‘Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin is one of the issues on which we went to people and the people had given their mandate in her favour. So, it is no longer an issue as far as we are concerned,’’ S. Venugopalachary said later.

Senior leader Ummareddy Venkateswarlu clarified that the party’s stand on Sonia did not mean that it had severed its ties with BJP/NDA.