Chandrababu Naidu floats trial balloons
Hyderabad: Will Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu join BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi bandwagon? Naidu, who is in New Delhi, met BJP president Rajnath Singh and had a lengthy chat on the stir in Seemandhra, after CWC announced bifurcation of the state, and other issues.
Party circles already agog over TD alliance with BJP in near future.
This is Naidu’s style of floating trial balloons to check which way the wind is blowing. While Singh told Naidu that there was no change in BJP stand on Telangana, he, however said the Centre should immediately intervene and break the impasse by addressing their issues. Asked whether the issue of TD joining NDA cropped up at the meeting, he replied in negative. “No discussions took place on TD joining NDA,” he said with a smile.
Naidu too parried questions saying he briefed BJP president on the Telangana agitation in the past, over 50 days in Seemandhra region. “I wrote two letters to Prime Minister but there was no reply,”he said. To a question whether Telugu Desam alliance with NDA cropped up, he said it was not the time to talk politics. “There was no discussion. We discussed the turmoil in AP,” he added.
However, TD circles say that the party was looking into pros and cons of joining hands with BJP, to study the impact cau-sed by anointment of Modi as BJP prime ministerial candidate and results of coming Assembly polls in some states.
It’s a calculated risk joining BJP, but inevitable. A large number of leaders and cadre favour Telugu Desam hitching on to Modi bandwagon in next polls. Whether BJP wins or not, it will benefit Telugu Desam to some extent in the state in the present circumstances. If Modi sweeps polls, its bonanza for TD, a senior Telugu Desam leader opined.
Said another party leader, “We have little option in the given situation."
With Congress-YRSC in Seemandhra region and Congress-TRS in Telangana, going will be tough for Telugu Desam. Telugu Desam had on and off relationship with BJP. Fear of alienation of Muslims from TD and 2004 poll debacle put Naidu in a dilemma over alliance.
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