The statement comes even as the BJP is yet to respond to his proposal for an electoral pact along with the Jana Sena in the upcoming polls.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu. (File photo/Supplied)
Even as the polls to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha segments in the state are just eight and a half months away, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu has reiterated that his party is still open for alliances.
Naidu’s statement comes at a time when the BJP is yet to respond to his proposal to have an electoral pact along with the Jana Sena in the upcoming polls in 2024.
“I can’t comment about the alliances now. We haven’t yet decided on the parties that we will be allying with. Discussions are on and a decision on alliances will be taken at an appropriate time as we assess the situation from time to time,” Naidu told a group of journalists in a freewheeling conversation in Delhi on Tuesday, 29 August.
He further said that coalition politics was not new to the TDP, and that the party had played a pivotal role in the formation of the National Front and other coalitions — like the BJP-led NDA — at the Centre.
Naidu also said that his party differed with the NDA in 2018 only on the issue of granting special-category status to Andhra Pradesh.
Otherwise, he said, his party would support the Centre in nation-building. Naidu added he has said this many times in the recent past.
Naidu also said that Jagan has destroyed Andhra Pradesh, and that the state would be back on track only if Jagan was defeated. He added he is on a mission to rebuild Andhra Pradesh.
Predicting that Andhra Pradesh might witness early polls, Naidu said the YSRCP would be an empty house if the TDP opened the gates for its MLAs.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had brought recognition to India on the global stage, and would also want to be part of nation-building, in his latest sign of appreciation for the BJP and its leader.
Naidu has been sending overtures to the BJP for some time for a patch-up. Both the TDP and BJP ally Jana Sena — with its chief Pawan Kalyan — have been advocating for a grand alliance of sorts on the lines of the 2014 electoral tie-up to face the YSRCP in the 2024 polls.
However, there has been no response yet from the BJP on the proposal put forth by Pawan Kalyan and Naidu.
The TDP chief was given an audience by the BJP bosses in June, years after his party walked out of the NDA in 2018, just before the 2019 polls.
In June, Naidu met BJP strongman and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda in Delhi, holding discussions for more than an hour.
At that time, it was widely speculated that it was only a mere formality for both the BJP and the TDP to announce an alliance in the state to fight the 2024 polls.
Naidu also met Nadda on Monday at Rashtrapati Bhavan during NTR’s commemorative coin release event.
It is learnt that Naidu yet again brought up his alliance proposal with Nadda on the sidelines of the Rashtrapati Bhavan event.
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