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Gujarat violence has hit investments: TDP

Syed Amin Jafri in Warangal

The Telugu Desam Party, a key ally of the National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre, on Wednesday, said the Gujarat riots tarnished the country's image and hampered the flow of foreign investments.

It also noted that many countries expressed concern over the situation in that state.

On the concluding day of the three-day Mahanadu (annual convention), the Telugu Desam adopted the political resolution reaffirming its commitment to secularism and, at the same time, reiterating its continued "issue-based, conditional" support from outside to the Vajpayee government.

"We will protect secularism at any cost and there will be no compromise on this score," Telugu Desam president and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu declared before the 6,000 delegates attending the party convention.

He said the TDP did not accept Lok Sabha Speaker's post to protect secularism and made it clear that it was ready to make any sacrifice for this cause in the future too.

The resolution justified the party's stand on the Gujarat issue and its demand for the ouster of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his failure to contain unprecedented communal violence in that state.

However, the text of the resolution and Naidu's speech gave the impression that the "Modi issue" was closed when the party staged a walk-out from Lok Sabha during voting on the opposition-sponsored censure motion on Gujarat.

Naidu claimed that the walkout and refusal to accept Lok Sabha Speaker's post were in protest against the rejection of the demand for Modi's ouster.

"We did not accept the Speaker's post in protest," he said, but hastened to add that the party thought it was not proper to accept the post in the present situation.

"The Telugu Desam never hankered for power. It never ran after posts but on the contrary, it sacrificed the posts it was holding to protect secularism," he said.

"If you enjoy people's support, all posts will come to you," he told his party leaders. The Mahanadu endorsed the decision taken by the party not to accept Speaker's post, which fell vacant after Telugu Desam's GMC Balayogi died in a helicopter crash in March this year.

Naidu claimed that it was because of the pressure mounted by his party that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee accepted three other demands for dropping the move to hold elections in Gujarat in the present situation, providing relief and rehabilitation to victims without any discrimination and restoring law and order. He pointed out that K P S Gill's help was taken to restore peace in Gujarat.

"The boycott of voting on Gujarat in Lok Sabha exposed BJP's helplessness," the resolution claimed. Justifying the party's demand for Modi's resignation, the resolution said it was in the larger national interest.

"It was not the party's intention to meddle into the affairs of other states," the resolution clarified.

Criticizing Modi government's handling of the riots in Gujarat, the resolution said "the state machinery not only failed in containing the violence after Godhra incident but there are proofs of it colluding directly or indirectly with the rioters."

The resolution skirted the future of TDP's relations with NDA but Naidu said the Telugu Desam would continue to support all the "good measures" of the NDA government and oppose any deviation from its common minimum programme.

"We are very clear on our outside support to NDA. We are extending issue-based support. We will support all good measures and will oppose any wrong moves," Naidu said.

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