HYDERABAD, India, 1 December 2004 — Telugu Desam Party will stay away from the Bharatiya Janata Party should the latter disrupt the winter session of Parliament beginning today. At the same time, the TDP will not hesitate in raising various issues if the United Progressive Alliance government does not respond properly.
The parliamentary wing of the party formulated this strategy for the winter session at a meeting chaired by party boss and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu before he left for Pakistan on a four-day visit on Monday.
The TDP will be vociferous in raising issues such as continuing farmers’ suicides in Andhra Pradesh, early clearance of pending irrigation projects, frequent hikes in prices of petroleum products and cooking gas, re-induction of Shibhu Soren into the federal Cabinet and the arrest of Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi by Tamil Nadu police.
The TDP has five members in the Lok Sabha and nine in the Rajya Sabha. Naidu asked the party MPs to participate in debates and stage walk-outs if the government did not respond to the issues raised by them. However, they have been told not to disrupt the proceedings of Parliament if the BJP does so.
Meanwhile, several BJP leaders, including former federal minister Bandaru Dattatreya, were arrested for attempting to force their entry into the state secretariat here during a state-wide strike by the party to protest against the “anti-farmer and anti-people” policies of the Congress government.
The strike was partial, with no violence reported from anywhere, police said. Buses were taken off some routes after BJP workers stoned them in the morning.
