Chasing hattrick mandate, BJP hunts for allies all corners
N Chandrababu Naidu (Image credit X @ncbn)
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, March 7: Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu arrived in the national capital on Thursday evening. His popping up in the saffron camp is in line with the eagerness of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to onboard allies in all parts of the country for the Lok Sabha elections.
Naidu had also been in the national capital last month. He is likely to discuss the poll strategy with the BJP leadership. Naidu had taken his party, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He had exited the NDA by going vocal against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling the promise made by the Central government to accord the special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
Naidu is likely to follow in the footsteps of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who also returned to the NDA fold after abandoning the national political ambitions. Kumar also chose to drop the longstanding demand of the special category status for Bihar. Both Kumar and Naidu appear to have gauged that Modi is set for his third straight mandate at the Centre.
Andhra Pradesh-based political observers have been maintaining that the BJP would also like to keep the incumbent Chief Minister, YSR Jagan Mohan Reddy, in good humour in the event if the outcome of the polls in the state defy the popular belief that there is an anti-incumbency current. Scores of senior leaders of the YSR Congress, including MPs, have begun deserting the party in an anticipation of the likely ouster of the party from power.
Election strategist Prashant Kishor too after bagging the contract from the TDP is making arguments for an unstoppable BJP in the national politics. The BJP bid to onboard TDP in the NDA mothership is also coming at a stage when the corridors of power are buzzing with speculation that an ageing Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha, may also return to the NDA fold, which will end the status of his party being an NDA+ at the Centre for the last one decade.
While the BJP is stitching a rainbow alliance in Uttar Pradesh with smaller outfits, the party also is said to be in parleys with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab, besides making space for outfits such as Tipra Motha Party in Tripura also. The BJP already is carrying two allies in Maharashtra on its shoulder, besides embracing the JD (S) in Karnataka.
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