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Naidu vows to rebuild AP

Naidu is leaving for Delhi to attend a scheduled NDA meeting post the announcement of election results…reports Asian Lite News

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the NDA’s victory in the Lok Sabha polls.

“Thank you, Narendra Modi Ji! On behalf of the people of Andhra Pradesh, I congratulate you on the NDA’s victory in the Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections,” TDP chief Naidu said in a post on X.

“Our people of Andhra Pradesh have blessed us with a remarkable mandate. This mandate is a reflection of their trust in our alliance and its vision for the state. Together with our people, we shall rebuild Andhra Pradesh and restore its glory,” the post further reads.

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi also thanked the people of Andhra Pradesh, saying that the government will work for the all-round progress of the state.

Naidu clears air

As BJP rallies for support of alliances to form the government after falling short of a majority, Telegu Desam Party (TDP) Chief Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday extended support to the BJP and affirmed that he is “a part of NDA”.

“I have seen so many political changes in the country. I am in NDA. I am going to the NDA meeting. If there is anything else, we will report to you,” Naidu said, extending his support to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) while addressing a Press conference in Vijaywada.

Naidu is leaving for Delhi to attend a scheduled NDA meeting post the announcement of election results.

Thanking the people of Andhra Pradesh for giving support to the TDP and the NDA alliance, Naidu said, “I haven’t seen such a historical election. In this election people from the USA spending 5 lakhs rupees came and voted. Even the labourers working in other states have come to vote. These elections will be written with golden words”.

“I urge all the people that they should constantly give us feedback during our governance. It will help us to give good governance. We will review everything after going to Delhi and coming back,” he added.

Naidu also expressed gratitude towards Janasena Party Chief Pawan Kalyan for supporting them in the state, so that the “anti-incumbency does not split up”.

“Pawan Kalyan supported us so that the anti-incumbency will not split up. I thank him sincerely. BJP also supported us. I thank all Delhi leaders who came here including Modi, Amit Shah and all the workers of TDP, BJP and Janasena. With all our work together, we could win this,” Naidu said.

Naidu further criticized the YSR Congress Party’s five-year tenure, alleging extensive economic and agricultural damage.

Taking potshots at the five years of the YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh, Naidu said, “The past five years of governance have inflicted damage equivalent to 30 years. The economy is in ruins, and the exact debt levels are unknown. Agriculture is suffering from severe water shortages. Farmers were unable to protest when sand was removed from their lands. Additionally, our workers were placed under house arrest.”

“During assembly sessions, I encountered difficult situations, and many YSRCP leaders harassed me and my family. On that day, I vowed to return to the assembly with a super-majority. The public supported me and sent me back to the assembly. I have been responsible both in opposition and in power. We will meet your expectations,” he added.

The NDA alliance comprising Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and the Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP) along with the BJP won Andhra Pradesh.

‘Did not expect these results’

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, whose party YSR Congress was virtually wiped out in the state Assembly elections, said that the results were surprising.

Stating that he did not expect this outcome, he wondered why the YSR Congress suffered defeat despite implementing several welfare schemes, benefiting crores of people.

Interacting with the mediapersons, Jagan Mohan Reddy accepts the people’s verdict but vowed to continue working for the people, especially the poor.

He said the alliance could not take away 40 per cent vote share of YSR Congress. “We fell down but will rise with courage.”

Jagan also said that it was not new for the YSR Congress to be in the opposition.

“Barring these five years, we spent most of the time in opposition. Struggle is not new to us. We faced many difficulties while in public life and if there are greater hardships we are ready to face them,” he said.

The YSR Congress leader also remarked that the alliance was of “big people” like the BJP, N. Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan. He wished all the very best to the new government.

In 2019, YSRCP had bagged 151 Assembly and 22 Lok Sabha seats.

Meanwhile, Jagan Mohan Reddy also listed out the major welfare schemes implemented by him and was surprised why the party had to suffer the defeat after doing so much for the people.

He claimed that his government had initiated measures which were not initiated in the past and worked for the development of all sections.

“We took steps for the benefit of 53 lakh mothers and a good future for their children but we don’t know what happened to the votes of these mothers and sisters. We provided pensions to 66 lakh elderly people, physically challenged and widows at their doorsteps. We don’t know what happened to the affection shown to them,” he said.

Jagan claimed that his government did everything for the good of 54 lakh farmers.

“We gave them investment support and helped them in every manner. We don’t know what happened to the love shown to 50 lakh farmers,” he said.

ALSO READ-EC issues notice to Jagan for comments against Naidu

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Tagore slams Naidu for allying with BJP

The TDP Chief on Wednesday said that he had no differences with the Bharatiya Janata Party, except over the denial of Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh and what he was asking it was to help in developing the State…reports Asian Lite News

The All-India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Andhra Pradesh affairs Manickam Tagore on Thursday took a swipe at TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu for allaying with the BJP despite the Central government not giving Special Category Status to the state.

“Babu claims no differences with BJP except for the denial of Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh. Denying SCS, yet still clinging to the alliance? Looks like self-interest outweighs Andhra’s needs for Babu & TDP. #PoliticsAsUsual #TDP #BJP,” Tagore posted on X.

The TDP Chief on Wednesday said that he had no differences with the Bharatiya Janata Party, except over the denial of Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh and what he was asking it was to help in developing the State.

He said that the TDP-BJP Jana Sena Party (JSP) alliance was for the benefit of the state, adding that his support for the NDA during Atal Behari Vajpayee’s time was unconditional.

In the run-up to the elections for the state assembly and Lok Sabha, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Jana Sena Party (JSP) sealed a seat-sharing pact in Andhra Pradesh on Monday.

According to the pact, the BJP will contest from six seats, the TDP from 17 seats and the JSP from two seats for the parliamentary elections.

In the assembly elections, the BJP will contest from 10 seats, the TDP from 144 seats and the JSP from 21 seats, as per the statement. The seat-sharing was finalised at a meeting held at Amaravati today following the meeting between the three parties in Delhi, where an alliance was formalised.

Naidu has received sharp criticism from his opponents for allying with the BJP. He had pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2018 after the Modi government’s refusal to grant Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh.

APCC president YS Sharmila demanded that Naidu explain to the state’s people why he chose to align with the BJP, which had betrayed the people on all fronts in the last 10 years. (ANI)

Ram Gopal Varma to contest from Pithapuram  

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has confirmed his candidature from the Pithapuram constituency in Andhra Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections.

He took to X and confirmed the news, saying, “Sudden decision..am happy to inform that i am contesting from Pithapuram.”

Shortly after Pawan’s announcement of contesting from Pithapuram, RGV tweeted.

After seat sharing between TDP-BJP-Janasena, Pithapuram TDP seat has been given to Janasena. And Today Janasena party chief Pawan Kalyan announced that he will be constesting from Pithapuram seat.

TDP former MLA and aspirant SVSN Varma’s followers criticised TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and burnt TDP posters.

Meanwhile, Film director Ram Gopal Varma tweeted that he would contest from Pithapuram

Earlier Ram Gopal Varma had lashed out at the TDP supremo, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, TDP Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Nara Lokesh Jana Sena Party president and actor Pawan Kalyan for an alleged protest outside his office in Hyderabad regarding his political potboiler, ‘Vyooham’.

Ram Gopal Varma is well-known in Telugu and Hindi cinema for his gangster and political-themed films. Among many other noteworthy films, he has directed Satya (1998), Company (2002), Sarkar (2005), Rangeela (1995), and Bhoot (2003). (ANI)

ALSO READ-TDP, BJP, JSP hold seat-sharing talks

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Naidu describes VP tenure ‘learning, testing experience’

The challenges and opportunities that come with it need to be addressed with a long term vision and imagination. Members of Parliament need to rise to the occasion,” Naidu said…reports Asian Lite News

Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday described his stewardship of the last 13 sessions as a “learning, revealing and even a testing experience”.

Naidu, who is presiding over the last session of his tenure, stated 57 per cent of the sittings of the House were either fully or partly disrupted during this period and urged the Members to rise to address the demands of the next 25 years of ‘Amrit Kaal’ by the end of which the country’s population is set to increase by another 20 crore.

In his opening remarks in the House on the first day of the Monsoon Session that got underway on Monday, Naidu said that he did his best for effective functioning of the House and was willing to take responsibility if his best was found short of the expectations.

“Dealing with about 245 Members of the House from over 30 parties with different minds, inclinations and ideologies is quite revealing and even a testing experience. I tried to the best of my abilities to draw the best out of all of you as a collective. The credit for the positives would entirely go to all of you. If my best was found to be short of your expectations, I would not hesitate to take responsibility for the same,” he said.

Stating that he would give a detailed perspective account of the functioning of the House during the last 13 sessions of his tenure on his last day in office next month, Naidu told the House that the members that 141 of the 248 scheduled full sittings of the House during this period were either fully or partly disrupted and it could have been much better given the mission for the nation.

Noting that this monsoon session would be the last in the 75th year of Independence of the country, Naidu said that the 25 year ‘Amrit Kaal’ beginning thereafter is critical to take the country to an entirely new plane and urged the Members to rise to the occasion.

He expected this Monsoon Session to set the right tone in this regard.

“I would expect all of you to be propelled by the spirit of ‘New India at 100’ so that our nation makes up for missed time and opportunities. Our population will increase by about 20 crore when Independent India turns 100 years. The challenges and opportunities that come with it need to be addressed with a long term vision and imagination. Members of Parliament need to rise to the occasion,” Naidu said.

He further told the Members that during the inter-session period, seven Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committees of the House have held a total of 29 meetings at an average duration of two hours and attendance of over 46 per cent per meeting.

He complimented the chairmen and members of five of these committees for their good work.

Naidu referred to the milestone of 200 crore Covid-19 vaccination jabs in the country achieved on Sunday and placed on record the appreciation of the House to vaccine makers and producers, the Central and state governments, the frontline workers and the people in particular.

The Chairman urged the Members to enable a safe and productive monsoon session of the House.

ALSO READ-India-Qatar bilateral trade touched $15 billion: Naidu

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Naidu backs saffronisation of education

It is necessary to provide quality education to all, only then can our education be inclusive and democratic,” he added…reports Asian Lite News

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday countered allegations that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was saffronising the country’s education system and asked “what is wrong with saffron?”, as he called on Indians to give up their “colonial mindset”.

Asserting that “bhartiyakaran” (Indianisation) of the education system has been the aim of the new National Education Policy, Naidu said: “But the moment you say it, some English loving and living people say we want to go back. Yes we want to go back to our roots, to know the greatness of our culture and heritage, to understand the great amount of treasure in our Vedas, our books, our scriptures… they don’t want us to know our greatness; they want us to suffer with inferiority complex… they say we are saffronising… what is wrong with saffron? I don’t understand it.”

He made the statement after inaugurating the South Asian Institute of Peace and Reconciliation at the Dev Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar.

“Prolonged colonial rule deprived large sections, including women of education and only a small elite class had access to formal education. It is necessary to provide quality education to all, only then can our education be inclusive and democratic,” he added.

He further encouraged youngsters to propagate their mother tongue. “I would like to see a day in my lifetime when Indians talk to their fellow countrymen in their mother tongue, administration is run in mother tongue and all government orders are issued in people’s language,” he said. Foreign dignitaries coming to India speak in their mother tongue instead of English despite knowing it because they take pride in their language, he said.

Suryakant Dhasmana, state Congress vice president said the vice president should not have made a statement like “what is wrong with saffron” as he is on a constitutional post. “As vice president, he should not talk like a BJP leader. Such statements are not expected in the speech of the country’s vice president.”

Talking about rising tensions in the strife-torn world, Naidu said that peace is a prerequisite for humanity’s progress. “Peace has a cascading effect—it engenders social harmony and paves the path for progress and prosperity. The ‘dividend of peace’ benefits every stakeholder and brings wealth and happiness to the society”, he said.

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Naidu calls for fighting divisive forces, strengthening nation’s unity

The Vice President also called for rewriting Indian history with an Indian perspective to instil a sense of pride in our glorious cultural heritage among the younger generation…reports Asian Lite News.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has called upon the people to fight against divisive forces that seek to divide society on the lines of religion, region, language, caste, creed or colour.

In the 75th year of our independence, every Indian must take a pledge to further strengthen unity and harmony in our hugely diverse society, he said on Saturday.

He was addressing students and teachers of Sri Aurobindo International School, Hyderabad after inaugurating a photo-exhibition on the life of Sri Aurobindo.

Emphasizing that bridging all divisions was necessary for the greatness of India’s future, he highlighted the positive aspects of religion and said that if everyone follows one’s religion in true spirit, there will not be any religious conflict.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OXpiSzyU3M

Education not just for employment but for enlightenment

The Vice President said that the goal of education should not be limited to building careers for earning a livelihood but it should aim to build sons for the Motherland to work and to suffer for her.

He underlined that it is the sacred duty of teachers to ensure that their students imbibe noble spiritual ideals of our ancient Indian wisdom and take pride in Indian culture.

Stressing that education is not just for employment but for enlightenment, the Vice President called for making India a Vishwa Guru again. “India should become Vishwa Guru not to dominate the world but to give knowledge and to spread light,” he said.

The Vice President also called for rewriting Indian history with an Indian perspective to instil a sense of pride in our glorious cultural heritage among the younger generation.

Reiterating Sri Aurobindo’s vision for India’s spirituality, VP Naidu said that a reawakening needs to come about in terms of India’s rich legacy of spiritual wisdom which would need to be recast into new forms and expressions to make it globally relevant and in keeping with the contemporary times.

He termed spirituality as the master key of India’s great culture and called for rediscovering its greatness by reliving it in our daily life.

“The entire mankind needs to realise that what is required today is not mere physical wealth but spiritual wealth as well,” he said.

Reforms needed in the United Nations


Responding to a question by a student, VP Naidu said reforms were needed in the United Nations so that it becomes a truly representative organisation where the soul and heart of the nations come together, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has said.

He expressed disapproval of some nation’s mentality to consider themselves as superior to others.

He said that equal respect for all is a prerequisite to bring unity of mankind. “Separate identities are going to be there but these identities should not divide us,” he said. (India News Network)

ALSO READ-Some countries funding and supporting terrorism against India: Naidu

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VP Naidu makes case for using native languages in judiciary

Addressing a virtual conference organised by ‘Telugu Kootami’ on the protection of mother tongues, Saturday, Naidu cautioned that loss of mother tongue, ultimately leads to loss of self-identity and self-esteem…reports Asian Lite News.

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu has called for the need to make the judiciary accessible for native language speakers. Referring to the Chief Justice of India, N.V. Ramana’s recent initiative allowing a woman to speak in Telugu in court, the Vice President said the incident underlined the need for judiciary to allow people to express their problems in their mother tongues, and also deliver judgments in the regional languages.

Addressing a virtual conference organised by ‘Telugu Kootami’ on the protection of mother tongues, Saturday, Naidu cautioned that loss of mother tongue, ultimately leads to loss of self-identity and self-esteem. It would be possible to preserve various aspects of our heritage – music, dance, drama, customs, festivals, traditional knowledge – only by preserving our mother tongue, he said.

Naidu called for innovative and collaborative efforts to protect and rejuvenate Indian languages. Stressing that preserving languages and ensuring their continuity is possible only through people’s movement, he said that people must come together in one voice and pool in efforts to pass on our heritage of language to our future generations.

Referring to various best practices in the world in preserving mother tongue, the Vice President called upon language enthusiasts, linguists, teachers, parents and the media to take insights from such countries.

He said that countries like France, Germany and Japan, while using their native tongue in various advanced disciplines like engineering, medicine and law, have proved themselves strong vis-a-vis English-speaking countries in every field. He also suggested improving scientific and technical terminology in Indian languages in order to facilitate wider reach.

Touching upon various people-driven initiatives needed to preserve Indian languages, the Vice President highlighted the important role translation plays in enriching a language. He called for increased efforts in improving the quality and quantity of translations in Indian languages. He also proposed making ancient literature more accessible and relatable to the youth in plain, spoken languages.

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