Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday responded to the statement by his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao that he would ‘return Naidu’s gift’. 

"Anything is possible," KCR had said when asked at a news conference if the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) would contest the polls in Andhra Pradesh or support any party against Naidu's TDP. KCR claimed that his party received one lakh messages from Andhra Pradesh, requesting it to also focus on the politics in Andhra and not confine themselves to Telangana.

“A CM of another state has said that he will come here and give me a gift. Anyone can go anywhere and work in a democracy. In a democracy, anyone can work for the upliftment of the people, but as I have said repeatedly, it was N T Rama Rao who started the Telugu Desam Party. He established it for Telugu people. Wherever Telugu people were there, we have worked for them,” Naidu responded during an event on Wednesday.

Jana Sena party chief and actor-politician Pawan Kalyan and YSRCP President YS Jaganmohan Reddy had both congratulated KCR for his victory.

Naidu had campaigned aggressively in Telangana Assembly elections in support of the TDP candidates and its ally Congress.

"When he can come here, why can't I go there? Chandrababu Naidu said he wants the welfare of Telugu people. Can't I work for the good of Telugu people?" KCR responded on Tuesday, during a press meet.

"He came to us with a gift. We will return the gift. If I don't return the gift, he will say Telangana has no manners," KCR said, taking a dig at Chandrababu Naidu. 

The TDP won two seats out of 13 it contested in Telangana. The Congress-led People's Front was crushed by the TRS, which won absolute majority. TRS’ gamble of early elections paid off with the party scoring a landslide 4/5th win getting 88 seats out of 119 at stake. 

With IANS inputs