Though the Telugu Desam Party coming out of the National Democratic Alliance has been on cards for quite some time, TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu took almost eight days to announce the decision, after withdrawing from the Modi cabinet.
Naidu knew pretty well that the Centre would not yield to any of his demands, leave alone special category status to AP. But he wants to give an impression among the people that his party has fought tooth and nail till the last moment for the status and also implementation of promises made in AP Reorganisation Act.
And after ensuring that there was no positive response from the NDA government, the TDP chief decided to pull the plug.
But how does it help the TDP?
Analysts say there is nothing much for the TDP to gain or lose from coming out of the NDA. However, the loss for the ruling party is a little minimised by coming out of the NDA, as Naidu can now freely make an attack on the Centre for not coming to the rescue of the state in the hour of crisis.
He can wash off his hands by throwing the blame on the Centre for not taking up Amaravati works and also non-completion of Polavaram.
Party sources say Naidu asked the leaders and cadre to take this message extensively into the people and see that there is no negative impact on the TDP in the next elections.
However, it is doubtful as to how far people would believe him and would definitely question him as to what he had done in the last four years and why only now during the election year, he was crying foul.
