Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has tried his best to get into the good books of Bharatiya Janata Party in general and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular by extending support to BJP’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu.
A day after announcing his support to Murmu, Naidu moved heaven and earth to see that he, along with his party leaders, would get an opportunity to meet her when she came to Vijayawada on Tuesday.
And he made the best use of the opportunity. After a long time, he could meet important leaders of the BJP like G Kishan Reddy, State BJP president Somu Veerrraju, G V L Narasimha Rao and others and had a hearty chat with them.
He not only showered praises on Murmu, but also had a lot of appreciation for Modi and his team for selecting a tribal woman leader for the President’s post.
The BJP leaders, too, reciprocated his gesture by thanking him.
Thought the TDP’s support is not required for the election of Murmu as the President of India, Naidu voluntarily extended support to her, obviously with an intention to appease the BJP, which has has not been reciprocating his overtures all these days.
Now, the question is whether the BJP national leadership will forgive Naidu for his past deeds and extend friendly hand to him.
As of now, the BJP doesn’t need to take Naidu back into its fold, as the TDP has just three MPs.
But the TDP leaders are of the view that the party’s graph is gradually rising and the BJP leadership must be definitely observing the same.
If the BJP thinks Naidu’s might get 12-15 MP seats in the next general elections, it might consider reviving the alliance, the party leaders feel.
However, those who know the mentality of Narendra Modi say that he will not forgive people so easily.
“He won’t forget the past. See, how he has started hounding the police officials who investigated the Gujarat riots of 2002, after a gap of 20 years? How can he forget the fact that Naidu had joined hands with the Congress and tried to float a grand alliance?” an analyst observed.
As of now, the BJP has good relations with the YSR Congress party.
So, there is no need for the party to respond to Naidu’s gestures. What will happen in future will have to be seen, he added.