West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the people of Visakhapatnam and Andhra Pradesh to re-elect Chandrababu Naidu as their Chief Minister and to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP at the national level “to save the nation and democracy.”
They addressed an election rally here on Sunday evening along with Chandrababu Naidu.
‘Defeat Modi’
Kejriwal said he had come specially from Delhi to participate in the rally “to express solidarity with the people of Andhra Pradesh who have been cheated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with regard to the promised special category status. In fact, that has been the PM’s track record during the past five years on almost all issues,” he charged.
He said that the Chief Minister was fighting against the BJP and Modi for the sake of the people of Andhra Pradesh and he needs to be re-elected for the welfare and development of the State. “He has done so much during the past five years and will do so much more. Please re-elect him and strengthen his hands to save AP and the nation from the duo of Modi and Amit Shah,” Kejriwal said.
‘Dictatorship’
He said that the Prime Minister “knew nothing about the economy” and he did not care to heed to any expert. “Dictatorially, he took the decision for demonetisation and it wrecked the economy. Industry has suffered and growth has suffered and there are no jobs for youth. If the Modi-Shah duo is re-elected, they will amend the Constitution and there will be no more elections. I am not indulging in scare-mongering. It is a fact. Modi is like Hitler,” he said.
“The people of Delhi will lend their support to the cause of Andhra and special category status. Let me bring to the notice of my Andhra brothers and sisters how democracy is being subverted in Delhi during the past few years. Delhi is not a full State. It is a half State and the BJP is using the peculiar position of Delhi to prevent our government from functioning. Therefore, Delhi needs full statehood. I appeal to the people of Andhra Pradesh to support our cause,” Kejriwal said.
‘Re-elect TDP’
Mamata Banerjee also spoke along the same lines and said she would support the cause of Andhra Pradesh and “Chandrababu Naidu, who has done so much for the State and can do much more for it in the next five years. He should be elected again. In fact, he is playing a very crucial role at the national level right now. He has joined hands with democratic, secular forces to save the nation from Modi and Shah,” she said.
She gave a call to people to teach Modi and Shah a lesson. “This is a very special election. Exercise your franchise carefully. To save our great country from the duo of Modi-Shah and their reign of terror, we should all unite and fight and the people of AP have to take the lead. We in Bengal will support your cause. All States in the Indian Union should develop and prosper. But for that to happen this pair of Modi and Shah should first go,” she said.
Chandrababu Naidu thanked Kejriwal and Mamata for their support and said he would lend full support to them to save the country from BJP and Modi.