In recent weeks N Chandrababu Naidu, the Telugu Desam (TDP) Chief and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has been attempting to warm up to the BJP central leadership. The former NDA ally had severed ties with the BJP in 2017. But after facing a humiliating defeat in the state elections this year, the party has been trying to keep itself adrift as several party leaders, big and small, are deserting it and moving to greener pastures.
On Friday, Naidu took effort to appease the BJP with a letter thanking Amit Shah and Modi for correcting the India map that now includes Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh. Other than writing the letter thanking the duo, Naidu also tweeted, "Dear Sri @AmitShahJi, truly appreciate your esteemed office’s quick redressal of the issue related to Amaravati not being mentioned on India’s map. You have endeared yourself to Telugu people by taking this step." The union government had excluded Amaravati in its map and this was used by the YSRCP government to target Naidu as he had failed to pass a government order specifying Amaravati as the capital.
The appeasement efforts come after Naidu who in the run up to elections had accused the Modi of giving Andhra Pradesh a"step-motherly treatment" and also accusing the Prime Minister of not fulling the promise of helping to build the capital of the state. Same time last year, Amit Shah and Naidu had engaged in a bitter war of words with Shah saying Naidu is never welcome back in the NDA. Naidu retaliated calling Amit Shah the most 'egoistical' leader.
Naidu on November 6 made a personal three-day visit to Chittoor district where the party had won just 1 seat out of the 14 seats in the district. The purpose of the visit was to recharge demoralised cadres who had reportedly stopped participating actively in the party programmes.
At his meeting in the Chittoor, Naidu was all praise for the NDA governments claim of making India a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024, “This is possible and very much (sic) achievable. I am sure the Prime Minister will have his goal of taking the country’s GDP to $5 trillion in the next five years. I am going to come up with a document explaining how this is achievable and can be achieved,” said Naidu.
This visit, party insiders say, was after Naidu did some introspection after the loss seven months ago. "Naidu feels he should have focused more on the issues on the ground in AP and taken on the YSRCP than trying to forge a national alliance. He feels it was a mistake to take on Narendra Modi in the Centre than Jagan in the state," a source said.
The TDP had in 2017 severed ties with the NDA led by the BJP on grounds that a special category status was not awarded to the state. Naidu had even attempted to forge a national alliance with the INC in the run-up the general elections, but in recent weeks the TDP chief has been trying to warm up to the Central BJP leadership.
Two years later, in the state elections held in May, the TDP witnessed a 39.2% dip in its vote share and was reduced to just 21 seats in the AP assembly.
It is not just the BJP, but TDP is also making attempts to regain trust from its former ally, the Jana Sena led by the movie actor Pawan Kalyan, a former ally who also had a dismal performance in the state assembly elections.
Earlier this month, to protest against the sand policy of the YSRCP government, the TDP backed the "long march" of Pawan Kalyan and even sent senior TDP leaders to take part in the march. The Andhra Pradesh BJP only extended “outside support” to this protest march.
When those within the Andhra BJP unit was asked about the recent efforts by Naidu to make right the soured relationship with the central BJP leadership, the source replied by saying, "Why does chameleon change colours? He’s scared that Jagan would push him behind bars, He still thinks he can manipulate the BJP," the source said.