[1]Hyderabad: Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday shared the dais in Delhi with prime ministerial candidate of the BJP Narendra Modi, thus signalling a possible tie-up with the BJP in the 2014 elections.
Naidu and Modi spent several hours at the finale of Manthan, a nationwide contest on innovative solutions to 14 challenges the country is facing. The event was organised by Citizens of Accountable Governance, a Delhi-based organisation, with Naidu inaugurating the convention and Mr Modi giving the concluding address. Later, they had a brief one-on-one meeting for 10 minutes.
No formal meeting has taken place between the leaders of the two parties as yet, but TD MP C.M. Ramesh told this correspondent, "The TD-BJP tie-up is the need of the hour to defeat the Congress both at the Centre and in the state. Our
leader Chandrababu is always against the Congress. He is playing a key role in building anti-Congress forces to defeat the Congress in the next elections. This (meeting Modi) is part of that grand plan."
Naidu had been highly critical of the Gujarat Chief Minister in the wake of the communal riots in that state and had even snapped ties with the BJP-led NDA coalition in 2004. But as they say, in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies.
Addressing the convention attended by around 10,000 students, Naidu said the Congress-led UPA’s 10-year rule had made the country financially weak. He said economic reforms were introduced by P.V. Narasimha Rao and were given further impetus during NDA rule.
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