National Alliance: TDP MPs to drum up support

Amaravati: Having made up his mind to take the battle into the enemy's camp, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is scripting an alliance that would remain together and finally throw the BJP dispensation out lock, stock and barrel.

The Chief Minister, having turned the alliance idea over his mind, shared his plan of action with MPs at Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party meeting on Sunday which gave an indication that he was determined to see the end of the BJP in the next elections.

To begin with, he has asked his MPs to move to Delhi and hold preliminary talks with the leaders of all Opposition parties, including the Congress which happens to be the big brother in the scheme of things that Naidu wants to materialise.

The alliance, supposed to act as an alternative to NDA, is already in the making but it sometimes shows signs of breaking up and this is where Naidu’s experience in trouble shooting would come in handy for the Congress and others parties which share the same wavelength with it and who do not want to sup with BJP even with a long spoon.

This is on account of Naidu's ability to switch on his charm at the asking and knows how to negotiate deals with political parties. "Naidu's persuasive skills would be of a lot of help to bring the disparate political groups under one umbrella and help them stay despite the contradictions that exist among them," said one TDP leader.

To begin with, the MPs would call on the leaders of the political parties at Delhi and explain to them how the people of AP had suffered in the hands of the BJP dispensation. After eliciting an emotive response from them, they would like to involve them in formation of a broad-based front to fight against the saffron leadership.

Naidu had told the MPs to guard against losing sight of the battle they have been waging with the Centre for fulfilment of all the promises made to the truncated state and then take up issues of national importance to rally the people behind the alliance against the NDA. They had already been asked to identify subjects like the distress in farm sector which exist in all states.

Said TDP MP Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu: "We are about to take the first step. We have to decide on which party we should call on first to facilitate formation of an alliance. In fact, we do not have much time to bring all the parties on one platform. We have to work fast."

The TDP is building an argument that aligning with the Congress is a compulsion for the TDP since it had to wage a war against the BJP at the Centre. The TDP is aware of the fact that the Congress was responsible for the division of the state but the trauma is now behind us. The enemy in front of us is the BJP and for us to stand up to the new threat, we need to join hands with all those who share similar concerns," he said.

That Naidu's persuasive skills still remains intact has been proved when the TDP moved a no-confidence motion against the NDA in Parliament. He was the man behind the entire show that went on in Delhi with MPs baring the real intentions of the BJP leadership as far as the AP state’s interests were concerned.

At his instance, the MPs had held talks with all the parties who readily supported AP's cause and the no-confidence motion, the leader said. The Chief Minister reportedly asked the MPs to suggest names for the proposed alliance to be placed before the constituents for approval.

By M Sambasiva Rao