Naidu-Shah meet fuels speculation on poll pact

Amaravati Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu's meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda in New Delhi has triggered speculation of the two parties reviving their alliance. The meeting happened late on Saturday.

This was Naidu's first meeting with Amit Shah since 2018 when the TDP pulled out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The meeting comes amid the buzz in political circles that the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister is keen to have an alliance with the BJP for Telangana Assembly elections scheduled later this year and the next year's Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh.

During an-hour-long meeting, the former chief minister is understood to have discussed with both Amit Shah and Nadda the proposal for TDP-BJP alliance in both the Telugu states. Naidu, who is in Delhi to attend the consultative meeting of the leaders on G20, is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.

Accompanied by TDP MPs K Ravindra Kumar, Kesineni Nani, Rammohan Naidu and former MP K Rammohan Rao, Naidu reached Delhi on Saturday evening. Rebel YSRCP MP Raghurama Krishna Raju received the TDP chief at the airport. From there, they drove to the residence of TDP MP Galla Jayadev.

Later, around 8.55 p.m., Naidu alone reached Amit Shah's residence. A few minutes later, Nadda also reached there. The meeting among the trio continued till around 10 p.m. None of them spoke to the media after the meeting. The TDP leaders were tight-lipped as to what transpired at the meeting.

However, the meeting comes amid the growing demand from BJP's ally actor-politician Pawan Kalyan to finalise the grand alliance against YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh.

Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader has been urging the BJP leadership to decide what he calls the 'road map' to oust YSRCP from power. Pawan, who had campaigned for TDP-BJP alliance in 2014, already held a couple of meetings with Naidu in recent months.