Will Protect Democracy In AP: Chandrababu Naidu

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu today said that he would take steps for protecting democracy in the state.

Speaking as part of his 36-hour-long protest program, he said that he had undertaken the protest due to the highly vicious circumstances in the state that led to the attacks on TDP offices across the state.

He said that NTR Bhavan, the main building on which the attack took place and the TDP party office, was a symbol of democracy. It was built by 70 lakh party workers and was treated as a temple by them.

The attacks took place also at the party's offices in Vizag, Hindupuram and Kadapa, and YSRCP activists had also attacked the residences of TDP leaders including Pattabhi, Naidu added. The attacks were thus aimed at ending the existence of the TDP itself, making them not attacks on just on the party's offices and its leaders, but on democracy itself, Naidu claimed.

He alleged that the fact that the attacks were state-sponsored was borne out by the fact that the DGP did not respond to his calls at the time of the attacks, and wondered why the DGP would not want to let him explain how the attacks took place. He said that he had then come to the party office without caring for his own security, given the police did not respond to his calls.

Naidu said that the law and order situation had completely failed in the state, and that he was undertaking the protest to restore the rule of law for the state's citizens.