What will be your party’s strategy?
As true inheritors of the NTR legacy, our party has extended support to the Madya Pana Nishedha Porata Samiti led by veteran freedom fighter Vavilala Gopalakrishnan. We, with the BJP, will spearhead a statewide agitation.
Are you satisfied with the Naidu government’s argument?
Our party feels Naidu is incompetent to run the government. This is evident from his admission on the floor of the assembly that his government has failed to implement the prohibition policy. His partymen were indulging in smuggling and bootlegging. So was his brother N. Ramamurthy Naidu. Be it the Yeleru scam or the government land scam in the city’s posh Banjara Hills, Naidu is deeply involved. Today he is richer by Rs 1,000 crore.
The finance minister said on the last day of the Budget session that populist schemes have stalled the state’s progress.
If that is true, how come NTR successfully implemented the rice scheme benefiting one crore people or housing to 14 lakh poor families? The government’s argument holds no water. It is the government’s responsibility to provide food, shelter and clothing to those below the poverty line.
Many in the TDP feel that you are a spent force and your failure to motivate the party cadre helped Naidu to emerge stronger.
I am no charismatic leader like NTR. Why NTR, I cannot be compared even with leaders like Jayalalitha. I had to head the party after the sudden demise of NTR. My priority is to sustain and continue the ideals which were dear to my late husband. Even leaders like NTR and Indira Gandhi had to undergo the political trauma that I am now facing. NTRTDP is the only alternative to Naidu’s corrupt TDP, as the Congress is in no position to gain lost ground.
Will you reinstate the populist scheme if voted back to power?
Of course, we will.
