New Delhi: Telugu Desam Party boss N Chandrababu Naidu – who pulled off stunning wins in the Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha and Assembly elections – underlined his support Wednesday morning for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance that is expected to form the next union government.
Naidu’s remark comes amid talk the opposition INDIA bloc, which is only 40 seats shy of majority after a stronger showing than most people predicted, could make a late approach for an alliance.
But the incoming Chief Minister, in Delhi today to attend a meeting of NDA partners, appeared unwilling, at least publicly yet, to play ball, and told reporters, “I’m in the NDA and am going for the meeting…”
Senior leaders of the BJP-led coalition will go into a huddle in the national capital today to review election results and discuss the details and minutiae of government formation, sources said.
The veteran politician – aware of his importance to the BJP – does have demands of his ally – the Lok Sabha Speaker’s seat and a minister’s post for every three MPs.
Naidu’s party swept the Assembly election with 135 of 175 seats and he is set to return as chief minister for a fourth time. More significantly, perhaps the TDP also won 16 of 28 Lok Sabha seats.
The TDP’s state-level ally – actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena – picked up two Lok Sabha seats and 21 Assembly constituencies. Pawan Kalyan will also be part of the meeting in Delhi today.
Naidu hailed the historic result and thanked the voters of Andhra Pradesh and lost no time in taking a jab at the outgoing YSR Congress Party, declaring, “In my long political career, I have never seen a government like that in the past five years. We witnessed how they troubled all constitutional systems.”