Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s roar against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government at the Centre for its alleged callousness towards the state has turned out to be a mere whimper within 24 hours.
Naidu displayed a lot of aggression and restlessness against the Narendra Modi government for allegedly going back on the promises like special financial package and assistance for capital construction, besides creating hurdles in the construction of Polavaram multi-purpose project on Thursday.
Almost all the national media highlighted Naidu’s aggression and went to the extent of predicting that the days of the TDP-BJP alliance is over.
They highlighted Naidu’s statement that he would “leave” the centre with a “namaskaram,” if the Centre continued to ignore the state’s interests.
However, within 24 hours, he changed his tune stating that he would fight for the state’s rights while continuing the alliance with the BJP.
Apparently, Naidu realised that his aggression would only prove counter-productive at this stage, since he cannot run the show without the Centre’s help.
And, he does not want to commit first on severing ties with the BJP but wants to create such a situation that the blame would go on to the Centre if there is any delay in the construction of Polavaram works.
He wants to push the BJP into the defensive and expose its callousness towards the southern state.
Indications are that Naidu will drag the issue as long as he can before pulling out of NDA.
He will seek repeated appointments with the Prime Minister and even propose to take a delegation of all party leaders to Delhi to discuss the issue of Polavaram and other issues related to special package.
Simultaneously, he will try to generate a sort of negative sentiment among the public towards the BJP and once the cold war erupts into an open battle, Naidu will pull out of the NDA, say sources.
