Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been doing intense lobbying with all the regional parties to build an anti-BJP coalition government at the Centre headed by Congress party.
Obviously, Naidu is of the view that he could play the role of a king maker again, even if he gets half a dozen MP seats in Andhra Pradesh, irrespective of whether he regains or loses power in the state.
He is pitching for Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister, though major parties like Trinamul Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Aam Admi Party and others are not taking his proposal kindly.
But reports from New Delhi say the Congress party, in case it has the chances of coming to power with the support of other like-minded regional parties, might woo the YSR Congress party headed by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, rather than Naidu.
Reason: there are chances that the YSRC might get 18-20 Lok Sabha seats, compared to five to six MP seats of the TDP. So, the Congress needs the support of the party that has bigger numbers.
Secondly, the YSRC might not have objection to extend support to the Congress-led coalition since it is better for Jagan, if he comes to power in the state, to maintain good relations with the Centre to secure more benefits to the state, rather than sitting in opposition along with the BJP and its friendly parties.
Moreover, Rahul Gandhi has promised to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh and if he seeks the support of Jagan, the latter could insist on granting the status on priority basis and that would fetch tremendous mileage to YSRC. And Jagan has already declared that he would support any party or coalition that would grant special category status to AP.
Thirdly, there is no reason why Jagan should not come back to the Congress fold, as his purpose of becoming the chief minister had been fulfilled. Since the Congress is no more a force to reckon with in Andhra Pradesh, he has no threats from it political now or in future.
In a recent interview to a national channel, Jagan has clarified in no ambiguous terms that he had no personal enmity towards Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi and that he had already forgiven the Congress party.
So, if one were to look into all possibilities, there is every possibility that the Congress would prefer Jagan to Naidu.
Of course, all these equations are subject to the condition that the Congress-led coalition should emerge as the largest group to come to power, Jagan should become the next chief minister of AP and his party should get majority of the MP seats!