JD (S) president and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda on Monday alleged that that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trying to destroy the democratic institutions in the country.
Addressing the gathering along with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at a roadshow at Tiruvuru in Krishna district, Mr. Gowda said: “Income-tax raids are being conducted against Mr. Modi’s political opponents in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, where the regional parties reached an understanding to fight him collectively.”
‘Empty slogans’
The former PM said he had been watching Mr. Modi for five years. “He came up with catchy slogans such as ‘no corruption’ and ‘clean election’ and unveiled a series of initiatives – Make in India, Start-Up India and Digital India – but suicide by farmers continues and unemployment remains a major concern,” he added.
“At this critical juncture, Andhra Pradesh can give leadership to the country and why not Mr. Naidu become Prime Minister?” said Mr. Gowda, asking Mr. Naidu to accept every challenge from Mr. Modi.
Calling Mr. Naidu ‘the would-be Prime Minister of India,” the JD(S) supremo said the former had been his ‘source of inspiration.’
“The new capital city of A.P., Amaravati is being built despite lack of support from the Centre,” he said.