Hyderabad The Telugu Desam Party, Jana Sena Party and Bharatiya Janata Party, constituents of the ruling coalition government in Andhra Pradesh, on Wednesday made a joint appeal to their cadres not to fall into the trap of the opposition YSR Congress party which is allegedly trying to create differences among the cadres of alliance partners through fake social media posts.
Political Context
In a joint statement issued in the name of the NDA social media coordination committee, the three parties cautioned their leaders, workers and supporters against falling into the trap of the YSRCP and asked them not to indulge in infighting, provoked by the statements of the YSRCP posted on fictitious social media handles. They were also allegedly posting comments and content intended to damage the reputation of alliance leaders. The committee stressed that the three NDA partners should work together to counter the alleged YSRCP campaign and highlight the development and welfare programmes being implemented by the coalition government.
YSRCP sympathisers were allegedly pretending to be supporters of one alliance partner while launching personal attacks and making derogatory remarks against leaders of another constituent party, according to the committee. “At a time when all NDA partners should jointly expose the YSRCP’s conspiracies and take the coalition government’s development and welfare initiatives to the people, creating differences among ourselves is against the spirit of alliance,” the committee said. It clarified that the primary objective was to identify “pseudo” supporters and prevent their alleged attempts to create discord within the alliance. However, genuine party supporters and workers would first have to exercise restraint to make this possible, it said.
Responses
“For instance, a fake account posing as a TDP supporter praises TDP president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu while criticising Jana Sena chief and deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan. It observed that genuine alliance workers, unable to identify the alleged YSRCP strategy, were becoming emotional and responding aggressively against leaders and supporters of their own coalition partners.
Similarly, another fake account posing as a Jana Sena supporter launches severe criticism against Chandrababu Naidu,” the committee said. This, in turn, was leading to disputes within the alliance and ultimately benefiting the YSRCP politically, it said.
