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Naidu faces UF leaders's flak

Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and United Front chairman and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda termed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu as an 'opportunist' for deserting the combine and supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The UF had committed a mistake by having appointed Naidu as its convener, Yadav said.

Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Communist Party of India secretary A B Bardhan said the UF would not be weakened by a few desertions.

The leaders asserted that, despite desertions, the UF would strive to become an alternative to the BJP and the Congress.

Bardhan said Naidu, by extending support to the BJP-led government at the Centre, had abandoned the minorities and dalits and the Left parties. His decision was not in the interests of Andhra Pradesh, he added.

Yadav charged Naidu with 'playing a fraud not only with the United Front but also with the country' by supporting the BJP-led coalition at the Centre.

He vowed that the UF would fight the next election in Andhra Pradesh to defeat Naidu. He, however, maintained that his party would have no alliance with the Congress in the state.

UNI

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