The BJP has played an interesting game of musical chairs around its Rajya Sabha nominations in the last couple of days. It moved out Union minister of state for commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman from Andhra Pradesh to Karnataka and brought in railway minister Suresh Prabhu in her place.

Of the four seats that are up for grabs in Andhra, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) can win three and the YSR Congress one. The TDP was in principle committed to giving one seat from its share to the BJP. Everyone assumed Sitharaman would be renominated given that she has also adopted villages in coastal Andhra. About a week back, one of the senior general secretaries of the BJP spoke to TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu about the one Rajya Sabha seat for the BJP from Andhra. Naidu told him he will discuss within the party and revert, leaving the decision on who the BJP will field to the party.

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But at the same time, Naidu let Union minister and Telugu bidda Venkaiah Naidu know that he was keen on having a minister with a heavyweight portfolio as Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra. Chandrababu Naidu's strategy is to make a much-obliged Prabhu shower largesse on his adopted state with plum railway projects.

Chandrababu Naidu wants BJP's Rajya Sabha nominee from Andhra to be a minister with a heavyweight portfolio,

Prior to the announcement that Prabhu will be the Elder from Andhra, many in the TDP had reportedly voiced their keenness not to make it so easy for the BJP. The two alliance partners have been in a complicated relationship. In Telangana, the BJP has almost divorced the TDP while in Andhra, the TDP is unhappy with the BJP enjoying the goodies of power without doing anything about getting special status for the bifurcated state.

According to a reliable source in the TDP, some in the party had mischievously suggested to Chandrababu Naidu to allot the fourth seat to the BJP and let them struggle to win it. Others were not keen to show this red rag to the BJP especially when the fund-starved state was at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mercy. Ever cautious, Chandrababu Naidu decided to play with a straight bat. After he landed at the Hyderabad airport on Sunday, BJP president Amit Shah took it upon himself to convey the decision on Prabhu to Naidu. Though every attempt is made to convey all is well, leaders of both parties admit there is a certain trust deficit between the BJP leadership and Chandrababu Naidu.

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister is not getting much by way of money to fund his extravagant capital dream in Amaravati. That, coupled with no special status for the state, has soured the relationship. Prabhu's railway catering service could be one way to clear the tracks for better functioning of the Modi-Naidu Express.