I will be in AP and I will remain as your CM: Chandrababu

Ending speculation that he has national ambitions, AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday asserted that he would stay in Andhra Pradesh and continue as chief minister. 'I have no intention of moving to anywhere,' Naidu said.Addressing a public meeting organised as part of Grama Darshini, the Chief Minister said: 'After my visit to Delhi yesterday to bring together all anti-BJP forces, many had thought I had bigger ambitions. I want to make it clear. I will be in AP and I will remain your chief minister,' he said.

The chief minister said he took the decision since he had an ambition to develop Andhra Pradesh as the best state in the country. 'I am committed to this goal and am working towards realising this objective,' he said and recalled how he had developed Hyderabad and gifted it to Telangana. 'Hyderabad is the result of my hard work. It is a goose that lays golden eggs. Unable to administer the city and the state, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has unnecessarily been targeting me,' he said.

Referring to how the BJP had become a threat to nation, the chief minister said that as the NDA dispensation at Delhi is continuing to undermine democracy and was out to harm the interests of Andhra Pradesh, so he had to align with the Congress. 'This is the reason why I had to undertake a visit to Delhi to cobble up a coalition with Congress and other anti-BJP forces,' Naidu said.

'For 36 years the TDP had fought the Congress. But today we are joining hands with it. This is because at present, saving the nation and democracy are of paramount importance,' Naidu said. He pointed out that unless the BJP is thrown out, there was no way the interests of the future generations could be secured. 'This is the reason why I went to Delhi to bring all opposition parties together. I cannot sit in Amravati and watch the unfolding scenario doing nothing,' he said.

Justifying his decision to rub shoulders with the Congress, the chief minister said that as far as AP is concerned, the party has a very limited presence, implying that there was no conflict of ideology. It had paid price for its mistake (dividing the state). 'When the Congress split the state, it had promised special category status for AP and several benefits in AP State Reorganisation Act. But the BJP which stepped into its shoes did not honour any of the assurances. When I raised the issue, the BJP began pouncing on me with an intention to weaken the state government,' Naidu said.

He referred to how the BJP had eroded the institution of governor in Andhra Pradesh. 'The rot now runs very deep. The gubernatorial institution has putrefied under the BJP's rule,' the chief minister said. Earlier he visited Valigonda project site and reviewed the progress of the works.