Jana Sena Party (JSP) supremo Pawan Kalyan on Saturday, November 4, met Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu after he was released on bail from the Rajamahendravaram Central Prison earlier this week. Kalyan reportedly met Naidu to discuss plans for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh. Leaders from both sides said that the two also discussed the current political situation in Andhra in the context of the corruption cases that have been slapped against Chandrababu Naidu by the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government.
“Pawan Kalyan met Chandrababu to talk about joint meetings and other plans as well, on the Assembly and Parliamentary seats. There are also plans for public meetings that will be held together. The immediate priority for the TDP is to secure regular bail for its leader as he is currently on bail given on medical grounds. Nothing about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was discussed as far as joining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is concerned. We will see about that later,” said a TDP leader from Andhra Pradesh.
Chandrababu Naidu was arrested and subsequently jailed in September for his alleged role in the Rs 371 crore ‘Skill Development’ scam which the AP Crime Investigation Department (CID) is investigating for irregularities. The Andhra Pradesh police have also booked him in other cases. The latest one was booked against him within 24 hours after he secured interim bail on October 31 in the ‘Skill Development’ case.
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) booked the ex-Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and his former cabinet colleagues on allegations of loss to the state exchequer when he was heading the previous government (2014-19) with regard to the sand policy. The CID has claimed that Chandrababu Naidu, the then ministers, and others including TDP MLAs benefited due to the policy, which made it easier to acquire sand.
Pawan Kalyan had earlier met the TDP supremo when he was in jail and announced that the JSP and TDP were joining hands to fight the YSRCP in the 2024 elections.
However, the JSP is part of the BJP-led NDA, and questions of whether the TDP will also re-join it, once again remain unanswered. While Pawan Kalyan has said that he did not leave the NDA, the TDP has maintained silence over the issue so far.
“We stopped criticising the BJP-led central government much and are only focussing on the state government. As of now, the plans are only being discussed with Jana Sena. We are keeping quiet about the BJP because, at this point, there is nothing to talk about. Even if we eventually join the NDA, it will be closer to the elections,” the TDP leader added.
Chandrababu had also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in June, driving speculations that the TDP will soon join the NDA. The ex-Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister quit the NDA in 2018 over the state not getting ‘Special Category Status’. The JSP, which had supported the TDP-BJP alliance in the 2014 polls, also decided to go solo and dropped its partnership with Chandrababu Naidu. It eventually led to the TDP and JSP respectively winning just 23 and one seats out of the state’s 175 Assembly constituencies. The YSRCP, led by current Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, stormed to power by winning 151 seats.