I never dreamed of becoming PM: Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu

VIJAYAWADA:   In a strong rebuttal to the accusations made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday on pushing Andhra Pradesh into sunset for promoting his son and his dreaming of becoming PM, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said he never desired to become prime minister, though opportunities to become one came his way. 

“He says I daydream of becoming prime minister and the future of my son is more important to me than the interests of the State. There is not an iota of truth in those baseless allegations,” he said, while describing such remarks as ramblings arising from jealousy that ‘Andhra Pradesh is doing better than Gujarat’.

Addressing a well-attended public meeting at Janmabhoomi Maa Vooru in Nidadavolu of West Godavari district, he said in 1996 he got the opportunity to become prime m inister, but he rejected the same, as for him, interests of the State were more important than becoming premier. Naidu said Modi was playing cheap politics and even trying to drag his family onto the roads. “This is unbecoming of Modi’s stature.” 

On Modi’s comments against his son Nara Lokesh, Naidu said he had started a small business 28 years ago to support his family. When he became Finance Minister after the TDP came to power, he handed over the business to his wife, who developed the company in a systematic manner, so the family never needed to worry about money, Naidu said. 

“Our son was educated in Stanford and when he came back, I advised him to look after the business, but he said his wife, Brahmini, would take care of the business and he would like to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather and serve the people. He joined politics and by using his knowledge and expertise brought IT companies to the State, transformed Tirupati as hardware hub, brought companies such as HCL to Amaravati and striving for the betterment of panchayats,” he said. 

Earlier, Naidu, during a teleconference with district collectors, nodal officers and public representatives of Janmabhoomi-Maa Vooru programme, said Modi was not in a position to digest the facts and resorting to personal attack. Naidu said hundreds of awards won by various government departments was testimony to the development of the State. “Because of this, the Prime Minister has developed a grudge against the State.”

“Modi has done nothing for the country and he has nothing much to talk about. Therefore, he is stooping to making baseless remarks forgetting the dignity of the office he holds,” said Naidu.Meanwhile,  participating in the Janmabhoomi programme in Tiruvuru constituency in Krishna district, Lokesh said people were watching the Centre’s decision to hand over Jagan Mohan Reddy attack case probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) despite the fact that a sympathiser of the YSRC leader resorted to the knife attack to garner publicity.