Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s comments during a discussion on a national television channel about his party’s possible return to the National Democratic Alliance fold have put Andhra Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in a tight spot.
According to sources, the discussion topic "Times of Transformation: The Need to Keep Fighting" was deliberately initiated by the BJP national leadership to gauge Naidu’s stance and make him speak openly about a possible alliance with the BJP.
“The channel, Republic TV, is an out-and-out pro-BJP channel. The channel management deliberately chose Naidu to speak on the topic and asked him questions about his stand towards the BJP in general and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular,” a source said.
The TDP chief, too, intelligently used the opportunity to appease the top leadership of the BJP. He extensively praised Modi and even declared him a visionary.
He announced that he would always support Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his decisions on the country’s development.
He did not rule out the possibility of returning to the NDA fold, saying that only time would answer the question of whether he would love to come back to the NDA.
He even said that he had never differed with Modi on policies but had left the NDA only on the special category status issue.
It was apparent that the channel would not have invited Naidu for the discussion and asked questions about his return to NDA without the approval of the BJP top leadership.
Maybe the Delhi bosses want to get clarity from Naidu after Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan insisted that the TDP be brought into the Jana Sena-BJP alliance.
So, Naidu gave a clear indication that he would support the NDA.
This has come as a shock to the Andhra BJP leaders, who have strongly opposed any alliance with the TDP.
However, they cannot do anything if the high command decides to join hands with the TDP.
They are now eagerly waiting for a response from Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
