A few days ago, there were reports that Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had decided against campaigning in support of Trinamul Congress in the ongoing parliament elections in West Bengal.
The reason cited was that Naidu had got intelligence reports that Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was in talks with YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy following reports that the YSRC might win not less than 20 MP seats in Andhra Pradesh.
Apparently, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had told her that the TRS and YSRC, which put together might win 32-35 MP seats, would help consolidate the federal front and might even project Mamata Banerjee as the prime ministerial candidate.
So, she appears to have decided to dump Chandrababu Naidu and join hands with Jagan and KCR.
That was why Naidu initially decided not to campaign for Mamata in West Bengal. But according to the latest reports, the TDP chief would be going to West Bengal on Wednesday and take part in the campaign for Trinamul Congress for two days and return to Vijayawada on Thursday night.
So, why did he change his mind? According to sources, Mamata called up Naidu and invited him to the campaign and he could not say no, as she had come all the way to Visakhapatnam to address the TDP rally.
Secondly, he has come to know that KCR has also started his efforts to revive the federal front and has started tours in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and there is a possibility that he might visit West Bengal also.
So, Naidu had to pre-empt KCR from grabbing the advantage. So, he will canvass for Mamata and convince her about the chances of an anti-BJP front emerging at the national level.
If necessary, Naidu himself might propose the name of Mamata for the PM post so that she would not entertain KCR and Jagan any more.
