Telugu Desam Party leader Chandrababu Naidu, who has emerged as ‘kingmaker’ after the Lok Sabha polls, highlighted the need to address regional aspirations during the National Democratic Alliance’s meeting at Delhi on Friday.
Addressing leaders and newly elected MPs of the alliance at the Central Hall of the Parliament, the Andhra Pradesh CM-elect endorsed Narendra Modi as leader of the NDA parliamentary party. Naidu said, “Balancing regional aspirations and national interests must run parallelly while ensuring holistic development for all strata of society.” Praising Modi, Naidu said, “Narendra Modi is the right leader at the right time.”
The TDP won 16 Lok Sabha seats and the party-led alliance won 21 of 25 seats in the state. The TDP-led alliance also won in the state assembly elections.
Naidu’s comments come amidst cabinet formation talks where TDP is rumoured to have demanded key cabinet berths, special status for Andhra Pradesh and support to develop Naidu’s plan to develop Amaravati as the state’s capital. Naidu has reportedly asked for a Minister of State under the finance department, three other cabinet portfolios and Lok Sabha speaker post.
The TDP leader had earlier walked out of the NDA bloc, in 2018, accusing the Modi-led government of not delivering on special status and financial assistance for the state. Naidu, then CM of Andhra Pradesh, pulled out two ministers of the party from Modi’s cabinet and also moved a no-confidence motion against then union government in Lok Sabha. The motion was comfortably defeated by the BJP-led government.
