Andhra Pradesh CM, Chandrababu Naidu gave a rebuttal to PM Narendra Modi's allegations against him during a rally in the southern state on Sunday.
On his first visit to Andhra Pradesh after Chandrababu Naidu's party quit the alliance with BJP, Modi had accused Naidu of betraying everybody from political allies to members of his own family.
Lashing out at Modi, Naidu alleged that PM Modi had sidelined senior leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, and Murli Manohar Joshi. "You were speaking of backstabbing? (LK) Advani's tears, Murali Manohar Joshi's face explain how you stabbed them. All secular and democratic persons know how Vajpayee's soul is lamenting. Entire nation saw the horse-trading deals in Karnataka, Goa, and Manipur," Mr. Naidu said in his letter to PM Modi.
After the BJP came to power in 2014, Advani, along with party veterans Yashwant Sinha and Murli Manohar Joshi, was named its "margdarshak mandal", meaning the guiding lights.
Naidu further said that the protests against the PM’s visit were proof of his "bad rule". "A person holding the chair of Prime Minister should possess Raja Dharma. No Prime Minister in the past had faced protests like you. Wherever you go, you faced protests. That is the evidence for your bad rule," he said.
PM Modi was greeted by hordes of TDP, Congress and Left activists waving banners of "No More Modi" and "Modi Never Again" upon his arrival in Andhra Pradesh. Along with that, Black flags and balloons were also waved by protesters while the PM's convoy was on its way to the venue of the rally in Guntur.