The Income Tax Department notice to a heavyweight leader like Naidu came at a time when the TDP was looking to ally with the BJP in Andhra Pradesh.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu. (File photo/Supplied)
A notice issued by the Income Tax Department to former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu has suddenly become an indicator of political equations in the state.
For the TDP, which was looking to ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls in 2024, the I-T Department’s notice came as a shocker, raising questions of whether it was an indication of the saffron party doubling down on distancing itself from the yellow brigade.
The notice has put the TDP in a tight spot, with Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP going all out against Chandrababu Naidu with this fresh ammo in an election year.
The I-T Department issued the notice to Naidu a few days ago, asking why an amount of ₹118 crore, allegedly received by him as kickbacks from some infrastructure companies, should not be treated as undisclosed income. It asked him why it should not be processed as per law.
BJP leaders admitted that notices to a leader of Chandrababu Naidu’s stature would not be issued unless there was clearance from the BJP-led government at the Centre.
It appears that the party’s central leadership sent out a message that it was not interested in having the TDP as its ally, and was in effect posturing to the YSRCP, where its preference lies.
Not only does the I-T notice provide the much-needed ammo for the YSRCP to attack the TDP on the “corruption” front, but it also gives it a reason to believe that the BJP is on its side and not on Naidu’s.
According to one BJP state-level leader, the party never trusted Chandrababu Naidu as he “lacks credibility”.
Also, the party was eyeing the TDP with increasing suspicion that it was planning to grow at the expense of the BJP by forging an alliance with it.
“The TDP wants to decimate the BJP in the name of an alliance so that it can emerge as a powerful party. How could we allow this?” he asked.
The BJP sources said that the way Chandrababu Naidu took a U-turn in 2018 ahead of the 2019 elections and broke away from the NDA still rankles the party leadership.
As general elections scheduled for 2019 were drawing closer, Naidu turned against the BJP. His two ministers in the Central Cabinet — Ashok Gajapati Raju and YS Chowdary — resigned on 8 March, 2018, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking to Naidu for over 20 minutes, asking him to reconsider his decision.
The TDP stepped out of NDA subsequently. The two BJP ministers in Naidu’s Cabinet in Andhra Pradesh — P Manikayala Rao and Kamineni Srinivas – also resigned the same month.
It was clear that Naidu walked into the trap laid by the then Opposition leader and now Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who used to question him on his credentials in fighting for special category status.
Even the special package pledged by the Centre was not delivered as promised, which gave a handy weapon for the Jagan Mohan Reddy to train his guns at him.
As Jagan was drawing huge crowds, Naidu did some quick math and decided that if he stayed with the BJP, the damage would be exacerbated as Jagan — during his padayatra across the state — was bearing down on him every day on his inability to get the special-category status for the state.
Naidu, after pulling out his two ministers from the Central government, stepped out of the NDA.
“We are not interested in the TDP. We have made this point very clear to Chandrababu Naidu several times in the past. In fact, he is after us,” Andhra Pradesh BJP general secretary Vishnu Vardhan Reddy told South First.
He said the party was game for an alliance with Pawan Kalyan and not the BJP. “But Naidu is hankering after us,” he said.
Some sections are not very happy with the late NTR’s daughter D Purandeswari, who has been appointed the president of the Andhra Pradesh BJP.
The idea was to pit Purandeswari against Naidu, as both of them have been rivals. But it is not panning out that way.
As the electoral war in Andhra Pradesh is fast turning out to be a caste war, one wonders whether she would be able to fight with Naidu who belongs to her caste.
“As the battle lines are drawn in AP between Kammas and Reddys, Purandeswari seems to be siding with her castemen, not bothering to realise that it might hurt the BJP’s interests,” one key leader in the BJP said on the condition of anonymity.
He pointed to the appointment of 13 of her castemen in the 30-member state BJP committee.
Another interesting take is that the BJP, between the TDP and the YSRCP, seemed to be preferring the latter. According to the aforementioned BJP leader, it would be sensible for them to be pally with Jagan.
“If we support Naidu now, we will be rubbing Jagan on the wrong side of his shoulder. If we are pally with him, he could extend support to us in Rajya Sabha which is very crucial to us. In Lok Sabha, we have an unassailable majority but in Rajya Sabha, we need support from others,” he said.
The YSRCP, too, in return has been a strong backer for key but problematic legislation brought in by the BJP in Parliament.
Both the YSRCP and the BJD, which are not part of the NDA, have extended support to the Delhi ordinance bill despite the Opposition front criticising the bill.
The same was the case with a no-confidence motion moved against the Narendra Modi government in the previous session of Parliament.
At present, Jagan has nine of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats from AP. In June next year, two seats will fall vacant, which are at present held by BJP (CM Ramesh) and TDP (Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar).
It is more than likely that the YSRCP will win the two seats also, in which case, Jagan Mohan Reddy will have all the Rajya Sabha seats from AP in his kitty, he said.
These numbers are crucial for the BJP to get laws passed ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
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