TDP upset over Budget 2018 but won't opt out of pact with BJP yet

AMARAVATI: The BJP's biggest ally in the South, the Telugu Desam Party, is "disappointed" that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's budget did not address the state's needs but the party won't opt out of the alliance yet, TDP sources said.

This was indicated by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at a meeting of the party's coordination committee here today, the sources said.

Discussion at the meeting centred around the Narendra Modi government's treatment of Andhra Pradesh and the "injustice" heaped on the state in the budget proposals, the sources said.

However, there is a "strong mood" among TDP leaders to break away from the alliance with the BJP, the sources said.

There was no formal communication about what transpired at the meeting, but some senior TDP leaders said off the record that almost everyone, including many district unit chiefs, wanted the TDP to end the alliance with the BJP after the budget "ignored" the state.

The party sources said that Naidu apparently dissuaded his senior party colleagues from speaking about the fate of the alliance with BJP and dwelt on the Rajasthan bypoll results where the BJP tasted defeat.

The TDP sources said that according to Naidu, the bypoll results are a clear example that people will be unsparing if governance is not good.

Naidu also reportedly expressed "serious displeasure"

over the Union budget and wondered why the Centre ignored the state.

"Bengaluru, Mumbai and Ahmedabad got a substantial allocation for various projects but none of our projects, including the Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam Metro rail, got anything," one of the sources quoted Naidu as saying at the meeting.

"At the time of the state bifurcation, I was the only one who demanded equal treatment to both the states. Though gross injustice was done to Andhra on account of bifurcation, I aligned with the BJP only because having good relations with the Centre could undo the injustice," Naidu apparently told the TDP leaders.

Some ministers and senior leaders present at the meeting said Naidu told them that all important issues would be discussed in detail at the meeting with TDP MPs here on Sunday.