Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been trying all his tricks to pamper Prime Minister Narendra Modi and glue to the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre.
It was evident from Naidu’s over-action in Delhi during the filing of nominations of NDA’s presidential candidate Ramnath Kovind on Friday.
While Modi was the first person to sign the first set of nominations on behalf of Kovind, Naidu managed to get the chance to file the second set of nominations, thanks to the intense lobbying by his close friend and Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu.
He did not even mind sitting in the second row while Modi was proposing the nomination of Kovind, though Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was taking the front row.
Even after the nomination process, Naidu tried to move closely with Modi so as to give the impression that he is the most loyal ally of the NDA.
However, Modi was more eager to shake hands with Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao and ask him about the monsoon in the state.
At the same time, Modi also sought to use the services of Naidu in mobilising the support of as many parties as possible, particularly West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
“All that Naidu wants is to see that Modi will not entertain YSR Congress party leader Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. That is precisely why he is running around Modi and NDA,” a political observer said.
