Chandrababu Naidu-Shah meet spurs talk of TDP-BJP alliance

Amaravati: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu’s meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda in New Delhi has triggered speculation of the two parties reviving their alliance.

The meeting happened late on Saturday.

This was Naidu’s first meeting with Amit Shah since 2018 when the TDP pulled out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The meeting comes amid the buzz in political circles that the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister is keen to have an alliance with the BJP for Telangana Assembly elections scheduled later this year and the next year’s Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh.

During an-hour-long meeting, the former chief minister is understood to have discussed with both Amit Shah and Nadda the proposal for TDP-BJP alliance in both the Telugu states.

Naidu, who is in Delhi to attend the consultative meeting of the leaders on G20, is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.

Accompanied by TDP MPs K. Ravindra Kumar, Kesineni Nani, Rammohan Naidu and former MP K. Rammohan Rao, Naidu reached Delhi on Saturday evening. Rebel YSRCP MP Raghurama Krishna Raju received the TDP chief at the airport. From there, they drove to the residence of TDP MP Galla Jayadev.

Later, around 8.55 p.m., Naidu alone reached Amit Shah’s residence. A few minutes later, Nadda also reached there. The meeting among the trio continued till around 10 p.m.

None of them spoke to the media after the meeting. The TDP leaders were tight-lipped as to what transpired at the meeting.

However, the meeting comes amid the growing demand from BJP’s ally actor-politician Pawan Kalyan to finalise the grand alliance against YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh.

Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader has been urging the BJP leadership to decide what he calls the ‘road map’ to oust YSRCP from power. Pawan, who had campaigned for TDP-BJP alliance in 2014, already held a couple of meetings with Naidu in recent months.

BJP’s Andhra Pradesh unit Somu Veerraju had also said last week that they have conveyed Pawan Kalyan’s proposal to the BJP’s central leadership and that it will take a final decision.

The actor-politician is also gearing up to embark on a statewide tour on his special campaign vehicle.

TDP, which had formed the first government in the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh after its victory in 2014 elections in alliance with the BJP, snapped ties with the NDA in 2018 in protest over the delay in grant of special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu had later joined hands with the Congress party to contest the Assembly elections in Telangana. However, the alliance had to bite the dust.

TDP also faced a drubbing in simultaneous elections to Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha in 2019. The YSRCP swept the polls, winning 151 seats in the 175-member Assembly.

TDP could win only 23 Assembly and three out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Ever since the crushing defeat in 2019, Naidu has been trying to build bridges with the BJP. He met Prime Minister Modi on a couple of occasions in recent months.