All is not well with the TDP-BJP alliance in Andhra Pradesh and the growing schism will figure when the BJP national president Amit Shah meets the TDP president and AP Chief Minister N Chandra Babu Naidu on Thursday in Vijayawada.
Though the leaders of both the parties have been sniping at each other from time to time but the recent meeting of YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy with the Prime Minister Narendar Modi has evoked such a sharp reaction from TDP that even the Prime Minister’s office was forced to take note of it.
While Chandrababu Naidu himself did not criticise the Prime Minister and only targeted his bête noire Jagan Reddy, his Cabinet colleagues including D Umamaheshwar Rao and K Achchan Naidu questioned the wisdom behind Prime Minister’s move to meet a leader facing corruption cases.
According to the sources, the criticism has not gone down well with the Prime Minister and officials from PMO have made enquiries about these statements by TDP leaders.
Adding more fuel to the fire, TDP MP from Vijayawada Kesineni Srinivas has also attacked the alliance with the BJP. “In 2014 we would have got more votes if we did not have alliance with the BJP,” he said.
Reacting strongly to the statement, the BJP Andhra Pradesh unit leader Kanna lakshminarayana demanded an explanation from Chand-
rababu Naidu. He alleged that the MP’s statement was part of a game plan to tarnish the image of the BJP.