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PM’s chat with Naidu sparks buzz of new alliance in AP
Naidu flew down to Delhi to attend the national committee meeting of “Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav” at Rashtrapathi Bhavan, chaired by Modi. After the meeting was over, Modi came to Naidu, shook hands with him and had a brief interaction with him.
A five-minute informal chat between prime minister Narendra Modi and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu in New Delhi on last Saturday triggered a talk of political realignment in Andhra Pradesh.
Naidu flew down to Delhi to attend the national committee meeting of “Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav” at Rashtrapathi Bhavan, chaired by Modi. After the meeting was over, Modi came to Naidu, shook hands with him and had a brief interaction with him.
Naidu told reporters later that Modi had exchanged pleasantries with him and enquired about his family and health. “He asked me why I had not been coming to Delhi all these years and I told him that I have no work there,” he said.
When Modi asked Naidu to come to Delhi for a meeting once, the latter replied that he, too, would like to have a meeting with him, if he got an appointment. “Feel at home. Whenever you want to come, just inform our office. They will fix an appointment,” Naidu quoted Modi as saying.
Though the interaction between Modi and Naidu was very brief, it created ripples in the state political circles, as both of them were meeting for the first time after a gap of more than four years.
The TDP had an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party during the 2014 general election, when the combined Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated to carve out Telangana. Naidu came to power in the residuary Andhra Pradesh and the TDP joined the NDA government led by Modi.
However, in March 2018, the TDP came out of the NDA demanding special category status to Andhra Pradesh and snapped ties with the BJP. Naidu turned a bitter critic of Modi, since then, both of them had not seen eye to eye.
The TDP even moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government with the support of the Congress and other opposition parties in July 2018. Subsequently, Naidu made an attempt to stitch-up a grand alliance with like-minded regional parties and even joined hands with the Congress, setting aside the traditional rivalry with the grand-old party.
During the 2019 general election, Naidu launched a huge campaign against the BJP and even made a personal attack on Modi. However, with Modi-led BJP returning to power at the Centre with a huge mandate and the TDP losing power to the YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh, Naidu’s anti-Modi campaign came to an end.
In October 2019, he openly admitted at a party meeting that quitting the BJP-led NDA was a big mistake, but he had to take the stand in the interest of the state. Since then, the TDP has been keeping away from the national politics and is focusing on regaining its lost hold in Andhra.
At the same time, he has been adopting soft stand towards the BJP and extended support to the initiatives of the Modi government during the Covid-19 pandemic. Though the BJP national leadership has not been reciprocating the friendly gestures of Naidu.
In the recent presidential and vice-presidential elections, too, the TDP extended support to BJP candidates Droupadi Murmu and Jagdeep Dhankar, respectively even without getting any formal request from the BJP leadership.
Against this backdrop, the meeting of Naidu with Modi at Delhi led to the talk on a possibility of the TDP returning to the BJP fold later. “That the prime minister asked Naidu to come to Delhi again for a detailed talk itself is a positive sign for the party, though it is too early to talk about whether there would be an alliance between the TDP and BJP,” a senior TDP leader, refused to be named, said.
For the past few months, there has been a talk of a possible alliance between the TDP and Jana Sena Party headed by popular Tollywood actor Pawan Kalyan. While Jana Sena Party has already been in alliance with the BJP, Pawan Kalyan talked about roping the TDP into the alliance to prevent splitting of anti-establishment vote against ruling YSR Congress Party led by chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The BJP leaders, however, are refusing to talk about such a possibility. “It is for the national leadership to decide on the alliances before the election. As of now, we have an alliance with the Jana Sena Party,” BJP state president Somu Veerraju said.
The YSRCP, which has so far been maintaining a friendly relationship with the Modi government, is skeptical about the latest development. Senior party leader and advisor to the state government Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said Naidu was desperate to return to the BJP fold, which was evident from the way the TDP was seeking to gain huge publicity over Naidu’s handshake with Modi.
“According to our information, Naidu and Pawan Kalyan are negotiating with the BJP by offering to extend support to the BJP in Telangana. In return, they want the BJP to rope the TDP into their alliance,” Reddy said.
TDP Andhra Pradesh unit president K Atchannaidu wondered why the YSRCP leaders were so panicky if Naidu had gone to Delhi and interacted with Modi. “He went to Delhi on an invitation from the Centre to take part in the Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav meeting. Why should they be so afraid?” he asked.
Political analyst Sriram Karri said the Modi-Naidu meeting had significance, politically or otherwise. “It could be one of those courtesy interactions and nothing more than that. It is unlikely Modi will meet Naidu again soon,” he said.
Karri said the BJP had no desire to destabilise the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. “In fact, it would be happy to see Jagan return to power, as it would push Naidu and TDP, into political oblivion, so that the BJP would try to rise and fill the vacuum,” he said.
As in the case of Telangana, the BJP would like to go after Jagan in his second term, after ensuring the principal opposition is weakened, Karri added.
