Ahead of the next month's elections, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Tuesday launched a website to receive public donations.
TDP president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu launched the website 'TDPforAndhra.com' and appealed to supporters of the party to make online donations.
Naidu, who made the first donation of Rs 99,999, said the NRIs can also make donations through the website. He mentioned that TDP gets membership money every two years.
"We are spending that money along with the money given by the well-wishers. Unlike other political parties, we are not accepting illegal money. The YSRCP took Rs 160 crore through bonds from online gambling. By taking money from the gamblers, they are speaking about ethics and values," he said.
Naidu stated that TDP always depended on the people. "Several people have benefited from TDP policies. People should come forward and help the party in their possible capacity. I am asking people to come directly and talk about their experience and the benefits they got. They are in a position to compete across the world after using the policies implemented by us," he said.
The TDP chief said people should also contribute financially to the party, be it Rs 100, Rs 1,000 or whatever they wish.
"People will be given a receipt after they donate to the party. People will be donors in the party books and accounts and they will be honoured. We have taken all precautions and permissions for NRIs to donate to the party. We will verify their donations, and we will accept them if they are eligible," he added.
He pointed out that TDP has a history with 42 years of experience.
It worked constantly with new ideas to change the lives of people.
He asserted that not only rich and landlords but educated and honest people should enter politics.
He recalled that in 1982, TDP ensured social justice for backward classes.
It made the educated with no prior experience in politics as MLAs and MPs.
Politicians should also be value-based, he said.
Naidu said there was a time when Telugu people had no importance.
"They used to be called Madrasis. The TDP started from there and introduced the self-respect of Telugu people to the world. Through public policies, we can bring changes to people's lives," he said, and recalled that it gave importance to Information Technology.
"We used to tell them that instead of doing jobs, they should also innovate products. We also said that they should not only do jobs but should give jobs to others. We told them about artificial intelligence, cloud management, data centers, and data science 20 years ago," he said.
