Overcoming the 2019 embarrassment, Telugu Desam Party supremo Chandrababu Naidu has emerged as a kingmaker in national politics with a spectacular win in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Following the win, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the NDA ally for the spectacular performance. But it has also emerged that the Congress-led INDIA bloc has approached him for support if the combine stakes its claim to form the government.
Apparently, a senior Left leader approached Naidu with a proposal to play a key role in the INDIA alliance if the situation arises. Already, NDA leaders have gotten in touch with the TDP supremo and is said to have offered him the deputy PM's post.
Party leaders indicated that TDP would stay in the NDA fold. "TDP is part of the NDA, and will continue to be part of it," said TDP general secretary and Naidu's son Nara Lokesh told Onmanorama.
This is not the first time that Naidu and the TDP have played a key role in national politics. The party, founded by the late NT Rama Rao, was a crucial partner in the National Front in 1990, the United Front in 1996 and the NDA during the Vajpayee regime. Naidu was the UF convener and instrumental in selecting APJ Abdul Kalam as the President.
However, after the Congress came to power in 2004 under the YS Rajasekhara Reddy leadership, the TDP was relegated to state politics. The party was part of the NDA-1 government from 2014, till it exited in 2018, spitting fire on the BJP and Modi for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
“Unexpectedly, Naidu has emerged as the key leader on the national political map after a gap of 20 years,” said noted columnist Chalasani Narendra. “But he may not accept the deputy PM's post. He would concentrate on restoring the derailed Andhra Pradesh. The very assurance that the party would remain in the NDA is great news for BJP and Narendra Modi,” he added.
Naidu's TDP got 16 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in AP, according to the Election Commission. The TDP-BJP-Jana Sena Party alliance, popularly known as 'Kutami', bagged 21 (TDP-16, BJP-3 and JSP-2) seats.
In 2019, the TDP got only three seats, while YSR Congress got 22 constituencies. The defeat in 2019 was so humiliating that TDP got only 23 seats in the 175-member Assembly. The YCP registered a landslide victory with 151 seats.
But five years later, the scene has reversed. The TDP's tally is around 136 and its alliance partners BJP and JSP bagged eight and 21 seats, respectively. Jana Sena registered a 100 per cent victory by winning all the 21 seats it contested.
While the YSR Congress extended unconditional support to the Modi government in Parliament though it was not part of the NDA. TDP on the other hand, now has come back with a bang being part of the alliance.
Political observers say Naidu would utilise the opportunity for a better bargain for the state. Building the new capital in Amaravati apart from bringing investments and completing irrigation projects would be his major work. Repairing the state's financial health will also be top of the agenda, they say.
