Naidu-Nadda meeting sparks alliance buzz, ahead of Andhra assembly elections
Naidu, who interacted with reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday, refused to divulge the details of his discussions with the BJP national president.
An impromptu meeting between Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu and Bharatiya Janata Party national president J P Nadda in New Delhi on Monday has again sparked speculations over a possible alliance between the two parties ahead of the assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh due early next year.
The meeting between Nadda and Naidu took place soon after the release of a commemorative coin on TDP founder-president and legendary Telugu actor N T Rama Rao by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre.
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All the family members of NTR, including Naidu, Nadda and several TDP functionaries attended the event, which was organised by NTR’s elder daughter and state BJP president Daggubati Purandeshwari.
Naidu was sitting in the front row of the audience at the event, and was seen chatting with Nadda who was seated beside him. After the meeting, both of them were closeted in the adjacent chambers for an interaction.
Purandeshwari and her husband and former MLA Daggubati Venkateshwar Rao were also present at the discussions with Nadda which went on for about 15-20 minutes.
While Purandeshwari could not be reached out for her comment, Naidu, who interacted with reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday, refused to divulge the details of his discussions with the BJP national president.
“Nobody knows what we are discussing with the BJP internally. There is no angle of politics which I have not seen so far. My ultimate objective is to rebuild Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
Stating that the TDP was a political party with nationalistic ideology and had played a major role in the national politics, Naidu pointed out that his party had come out of the National Democratic Alliance (in 2018) only on the issue of special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
“Otherwise, we don’t have any serious differences with the Centre. I have made it clear several times in the past,” he clarified.
The TDP president said he wanted to be part of the nation building. “How we do it has to be worked out. Only time will decide it,” he asserted.
A senior TDP leader familiar with the meeting said there was no concrete discussion between Naidu and Nadda on alliances, though the TDP chief had explained the present political scenario of the state to the BJP chief. “Maybe, there will be some developments in that direction in the coming months, but as of now, there is no progress,” he said.
The BJP has been in alliance with the Jana Sena Party headed by Telugu film star Pawan Kalyan, who has been intensely lobbying to bring the TDP into the alliance, so that there is no split in the anti-incumbency vote in Andhra Pradesh in the upcoming elections.
For the last four and a half years, the TDP has been adopting a softer stand towards the BJP and supported the Centre on several issues, including in the presidential and vice-presidential elections. Even during the recent no-trust motion moved by the opposition parties against the Narendra Modi government and also on the Delhi administration bill, the TDP extended support to the Centre.
Naidu, who often described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a visionary, had met Union home minister Amit Shah and Nadda on June 4 this year. But there was no further progress in the alliance between the TDP and the BJP.
Now that Naidu’s sister-in-law Purandeshwari has become the BJP state president, the talk of a possible alliance between the two parties has started and Monday’s meeting between Naidu and Nadda in the presence of Purandeshwari lent credence to it.
Reacting to the latest meeting between Naidu and Nadda, YSRCP general secretary V Vijay Sai Reddy said Purandeshwari was lobbying for an alliance with the TDP, though Nadda was reluctant for the same.
“What more evidence does it require to say that you, your husband and your brother-in-law – all l belong to the same clan. Even the BJP leadership knows about it. That is why the key has been handed over to the thief!” he tweeted, referring to her appointment as the state BJP chief.
