UPA-era minister Kishore Chandra Deo has resigned from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) as it seeks an alliance with the BJP-led NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

In a strongly worded letter to party chief Chandrababu Naidu, Deo said the
Narendra Modi government at the Centre had failed in its promises to create crores of jobs, while the abrupt demonetisation had devastated the rural economy.

The only item on the Centre’s agenda is to dismantle the constitutional framework and create a Hindu theocratic state, Deo wrote.

“Unity amidst diversity has been the hallmark of our constitutional ethos. This aspect has been mangled by zealots who have been creating fissures in an already fragmented society. The lynching and allegedly contrived encounters in heartland bring back chilling remainders of those most horrific incidents,” Deo wrote.

The only programme of the NDA government seems to be to create vote banks by unleashing a reign of terror by bigots, he said.