In the run-up to the General Election, parties will focus on their base; TDP is no different
That the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, after announcing on Wednesday night his party's ministers in the Central Council of Ministers would be quitting, did not also simultaneously pull-out from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (though that may happen at some any point) shows just how fluid the political situation is in the State. It’s safe to say, however, that a formal divorce looks imminent.
Accommodative noises from senior BJP leaders at the Centre and in the State continue to be made to try and ensure the separation of the TDP from the BJP over the issue of grant of Special Category Status and its concomitant financial package to Andhra Pradesh following its bifurcation is not permanent. Naidu too, apparently, was not averse to trying to explore ways and means to continue with the BJP. So, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's offer made earlier on Wednesday that went some way in conceding a substantial five-year financial package for the State which approximated the monies Andhra Pradesh would have got under the Special Category Status albeit without the nomenclature was a political goodwill gesture to help Naidu convince his party not to take any precipitate steps that would lead to a complete rupture in ties. But Jaitley's gambit was was not enough to prevent TDP MlAs and leaders who were adamant that the niceties of the 14th Finance Commission having scrapped the special category status apart from for the North-eastern and three hill states would not be enough to keep their support base satisfied. That the Prime Minister also had a telephonic chat with Naidu late on Thursday afternoon to try and ensure the TDP remains a player in the NDA scheme of things come elections time is not insignificant either.
It makes little sense for either the BJP or the TDP to part ways and weaken their electoral prospects, though the former does have an option in the YSR Congress. But the TDP, which had opposed the creation of Telangana, has to contend with the pressure from below as well as the YSR Congress' high-decibel campaign against the Centre's 'step-motherly' treatment. Naidu making a bit of meal of the announcement to pull out the TDP ministers from the Union Cabinet and the “humiliation” Jaitley's remarks allegedly caused the people of Andhra Pradesh, not to mention the TDP chief's complaint that the Prime Minister did not receive his call on Wednesday when he wanted to do him the courtesy of informing him of his party's decision to withdraw its ministers from the Cabinet, are all moves intended to placate the restiveness among his support base. For, promises have been made by the TDP to the electorate which will be impossible to fulfil without special financial assistance from the Centre. Also, Naidu, much like other BJP allies in the NDA fold, is gauging the mood of the voting public in his State, that elects 25 MPs, to figure out whether it makes more sense for him to go it alone for the lok Sabha poll and then negotiate a State-specific deal with the party or combine that forms the next Government.