india

Updated: Jan 08, 2019 21:04 IST

Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu, who has taken a lead role in building an opposition front against the BJP, arrived in the national capital to attempt to cement ties with the Congress. Naidu, who started the exercise with a meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, is expected to call on Nationalist Congress Party boss Sharad Pawar soon after.

Naidu’s latest visit to the national capital comes against the backdrop of the Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party suggesting that they have firmed up a seat-sharing deal minus the Congress.

Rahul Gandhi, who was earlier said to have been keen to join the alliance, appears to have lately reconciled to the possibility that his party would have to go solo in the Lok Sabha elections later this year. The Congress, he recently said in an interview, would do well in UP and surprise people.

Naidu is also likely to call on Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal (Secular) president HD Deve Gowda during his Delhi visit.

For now, it is not clear if the Andhra Pradesh chief minister would attempt to broaden the opposition front in Uttar Pradesh.

Asked whether he would meet SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati, Naidu told reporters on Monday that he would certainly seek their time and meet them, if possible.

Naidu’s TDP had tied up with the Congress in Telangana assembly elections but the alliance did not really work on the ground. The Congress ended up with 19 seats of the 119; TDP with just about 2.

But the alliance, after its not-so-impressive performance, has run into some problems of its own. Telangana Congress leaders have been nudging Rahul Gandhi to break up with Chandrababu Naidu’s party in Telangana and fight the Lok Sabha elections alone, arguing that the marriage just wasn’t working in the country’s newest state.

“A report to this effect has been sent to the party high command. We are awaiting its decision. It is most likely that there will be no alliance with the TDP, in the wake of strong sentiment prevailing among the people of Telangana against the TDP,” Telangana Congress treasurer and spokesman Guduru Narayana Reddy told Hindustan Times.

The Andhra CM was attacked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently for harbouring Prime Ministerial ambitions though he had miserably failed to run his own state. Modi said Naidu was “pushing the state into sunset with his corrupt administration to see his son rise”.

The Prime Minister had also ridiculed Naidu’s efforts to build the grand alliance saying it was an alliance of “family-ruled parties”.

Naidu had met Rahul Gandhi in the first week of November last year. The Andhra CM had then said that it was “democratic compulsion” to defeat the BJP and bring opposition parties on a common platform.

Naidu’s Delhi visit comes in the wake of the latest outburst against him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during video conferencing with BJP leaders in Andhra Pradesh.

Modi accused Naidu of nurturing Prime Ministerial ambitions though he had miserably failed to run his own state. He even alleged that the Andhra chief minister was “pushing the state into sunset with his corrupt administration to see his son rise”.

The Prime Minister also ridiculed Naidu’s efforts to build the grand alliance saying it was an alliance of “family-ruled parties”.