The Telugu Desam Party headed by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu appears to be losing whatever little support it had till recently, after he joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party to form an alliance to contest the coming elections together.
Within days after the BJP joined the alliance of the TDP and Jana Sena and entered into a seat sharing agreement, Muslim groups have launched a huge campaign on social media, warning the Muslim voters against voting for the TDP.
A WhatsApp group created in the name of Muslim Intellectuals Association has been sending messages to all the Muslims in the state, asking them to be wary of the BJP trying to fire at them from the shoulders of the TDP.
“Wake Up Muslim Brothers! Think twice before voting for the unholy communal alliance of the TDP-BJP-Jana Sena in the coming general elections. Any vote for the TDP is a vote for the communal BJP,” a pamphlet doing rounds in the WhatsApp group.
The group warned the Muslims that if the alliance comes to power and the TDP supports the BJP at the Centre, the saffron party would implement dangerous programmes like CAA, Uniform Civil Code, NRC and NPR.
It said the alliance would also cancel four percent of reservations for Muslims, ban Halal of meat, do away with Hijab, Aza (prayers) through loud speakers and abolish Wakf Act, among others.
Though the YSR Congress party, too, supported the Modi government on CAA in Parliament, it recently opposed the gazette notification saying the act needed a lot of amendments, the Muslim groups argue.
Sources said the Muslims were slightly inclined towards the TDP earlier, but after Naidu joined hands with the BJP, they have now decided to support the YSRCP.
“There are no takers for Naidu’s argument that he has joined hands with the BJP only for the sake of development of the state,” a Muslim leader argued.
