Indian Cardinal Anthony Poola has pledged the Christian com-munity’s support for the new government in southern Andhra Pradesh state that unseated a Christian-led government in the recently concluded polls.
N. Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as state chief minister on June 12 for the fourth time. He heads a coalition government com-prising his Telugu Desam Party (TDP), regional Jana Sena party, and the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In a letter to the new chief minister, Cardinal Poola assured “support of the Catholic Church and the Christian com-munity” to make the state “inclusive and sustainable.” The 62-year-old cardinal, archbishop of Hyderabad in the neighboring Telangana state, also promised “prayers for prosperity, peace and harmony in Andhra Pradesh.” He was made a cardinal in 2022. His Telangana state was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. The cardinal heads the regional Telugu Catholic Bishops’ Council, which includes all the Catholic bishops of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu is the official language of both the states.
“We hope the alliance partners will keep a check on the BJP,” said Father Anthony Thumma, advisor to the Telugu Federation of Churches. Nadu’s alliance came to power after defeating the YSR Congress, a regional party headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy, a Church of South India member. He led the state government for five years and kept friendly terms with the BJP. Both Naidu and Reddy “always worked for the welfare of the people, especially for minorities in the state,” said Fr Thumma, also secretary of the Indian bishops’ Office of Dialogue and Ecumenism.