Apparently fearing that BJP national president Amit Shah’s visit to Vijayawada to strengthen the party rank and file, Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is learnt to have sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s help to rein in BJP chief.
Shah deliberately avoided meeting Naidu in Hyderabad on Thursday, leading to apprehensions among the TDP cadres that the BJP was trying to cut off its alliance with their party in AP and Telangana.
With several leaders inclining to join the BJP, the TDP president feared that it would have serious impact on his party in the long run.
Naidu, who went to Gujarat capital of Ahmedabad on Friday to attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, is understood to have requested Modi to see that the TDP-BJP relationship would continue and that Amit Shah’s visit to Vijayawada should not lead to any confusion among the TDP-BJP cadres.
Perhaps, Modi might have spoken to Amit Shah immediately and that was evident from the latter’s statement at a press conference in Vijayawada.
He said efforts to strengthen BJP in Andhra Pradesh did not mean they would weaken the ruling TDP.
He said his party and the TDP were working together for development of the country. Apparently, trying to mollify the TDP while declaring that the BJP would be strengthened in all States,
Amit said the people in Andhra Pradesh supported the TDP-BJP combine in the last elections and the regional party backed the BJP at the Centre.
“This relationship between the BJP and TDP would continue in future also”, he clarified.
