A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Andhra Pradesh government of indulging in scams and making friends with a "wicked" Congress, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Thursday hit back, calling him a "liar."
The BJP did "more injustice" to Andhra Pradesh than the Congress (over state bifurcation), he said.
"Prime Minister speaks only lies whenever he opens his mouth," Naidu said at a public meeting in connection with a government programme in Guntur district.
Addressing BJP workers of various Lok Sabha constituencies in the state through video conferencing Wednesday, Modi had blasted the ruling Telugu Desam Party for not remaining committed to its own ideology, and spreading "blatant lies" against the Centre.
Hitting back, Naidu accused Modi of hatching a conspiracy along with "two other Modis", Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, to defeat the TDP in the coming elections.
It was the BJP-led government that was steeped in corruption while Andhra Pradesh was ranked number three among the least corrupt states in the country, the chief minister alleged.
He cited the Rafale deal as an example.
Launching a scathing attack on Naidu, Modi had said "Late N T Rama Rao, who founded the TDP to promote the interests of Telugu people and to safeguard Telugu pride, always addressed Congress as 'dushta' (wicked).
"And today, those in power are treating it as 'dost' (friend) Congress. Do they want to say that NTR was wrong?" Modi had said,
Naidu said the TDP was not at anyone's mercy.
"For us, people are the high command and I will do what is good for the people," Naidu said, defending his partys alliance with the Congress.
"You (BJP) have done more injustice to AP than the Congress," he said.
While the Congress enacted the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 with various provisions, including according national status to the Polavaram project, and also promised grant of Special Category Status, the BJP did not honour one commitment, Naidu said.
It was only because the BJP betrayed the state that the TDP broke its alliance with the NDA, he said.
He claimed that a strong anti-NDA wind was blowing across the country which would lead to its defeat in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
On the Prime Ministers remark that the state government was not able to execute the Polavaram multipurpose project properly, the chief minister said it bagged the Central Board of Irrigation & Power (CBIP) award for speedy execution.
"Modi says they gave Rs 7,000 crore for Polavaram but they have to actually give another Rs 54,000 crore. We have spent Rs 3,500 crore on the project but that money was also not reimbursed," he said.
The chief minister said Andhra Pradesh was contributing Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore annually to the Centre in the form of various taxes but was not getting its due.
"When I am asking all this, Modi is counter-attacking me," Naidu said.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)