Budget 2015: Will Chandrababu's TDP quit NDA over poor allocation to Andhra?

Hyderabad: In what could be worrying signals for the BJP-led government at the Centre, the party’s closest ally in the south, Telegu Desam Party, could be considering breaking apart from the NDA. The Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday has turned out to be the proverbial last straw in a relationship that has been fraught with tension for sometime now. Sources in the N Chandrababu Naidu-led party indicate that it is only a matter of time the parties went separate ways.

The “abysmal” allocations of over Rs 350 crore to the survivor state of Andhra Pradesh and a “niggardly” Rs 100 crore to the purported national project Polavaram angered Chandrababu Naidu so much that he has chosen to make a last ditch effort by commandeering the support of movie actor Pawan Kalyan. The TDP organised a massive publicity blitzkrieg for the “closed-door” meeting between Naidu and the actor at the former’s residence. Though the duo was closeted for over an hour-and-a half, the details were officially not put out either through a press release or a press conference. Interestingly, the otherwise “air-tight walls” of power corridors became so “brittle and porous” that the information “leakage” continued unabated throughout the day on the content of what has transpired between the two. As if to take the things from a yield point to a breaking point, Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu, on Sunday, said in Hyderabad that the erstwhile Congress regime had not mentioned that Polavaram Project would be taken up as a national project in the AP Reorganisation Act. This statement further ruffled the feathers of the TDP leadership. Vernacular television channels ran scrolls that Pawan Kalyan has joined chorus with the chief minister in voicing his concern over the Centre’s nonchalant attitude towards Andhra. He would, reports said, ‘accompany’ Naidu to meet Modi to discuss and iron out the irritants sooner than later. Supporters of Naidu began attacking the BJP through the social media with hard-hitting and derisive status updates soon after the Budget was out on Saturday. The piqued Andhra Pradesh chief minister, though tried to demonstrate “cautious optimism”, could not conceal his wrath against the Centre. Visibly upset, he left ample hints with his confidants in a closed-door meeting that the TDP has switched gear to a wait-and-watch mode and indicated that he could pull out of the Union government sooner than later. The TDP’s P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Sujana Chowdary, the two trusted lieutenants of Naidu, are serving as ministers in Cabinet (Civil Aviation) and State (Science and Technology) ranks respectively. Naidu’s anguish hasn’t actually perturbed the BJP. Venkaiah Naidu was at his pedagogical best in “preaching” his close pal Chandrababu Naidu, in absentia, that any objections should have been discussed and sorted out internally, instead of making the differences public. This too did not go well with the TDP ranks.

The Andhra chief minister had said on Saturday that first it was the report of 14th Finance Commission, then the Railway Budget and finally the Union Budget that had dealt a body blow on the fledgling fortunes of the state that didn’t have a new capital. He did not mince words while asserting that he was let down by the Narendra Modi government. The NDA government had done nothing to set right the injustice done to the state during bifurcation. He was specially cut up with the lack of any mention of the much-awaited special package or status to Andhra Pradesh, on which the TDP has pinned hopes. His party MP N Siva Prasad recalled, soon after the budget speech, the legend of Mahabharata saying the TDP MPs secured their “divine weapons” on a “Shami tree” and whenever their leader gave the nod, they would recover them to train them at the BJP. However, as part of his exercise of ‘cautious optimism’, Naidu said he was a “positive thinker” in response to a query on whether a break up between the TDP and the BJP was imminent. To a question on the prospect of the tapering off of relations wreaking havoc and the prime minister and Jaitley cold shouldering his appeal, Naidu said: “Even I don’t know what would happen. How would I tell you?” Naidu’s raging discontent has stemmed from the snubbing of his request for appointments with the prime minister on more than one occasion. He recalled the assurance given by Modi that a world-class capital city would be built for Andhra Pradesh. He made no qualms about his displeasure over the complete silence of the Centre on it, which poured cold water on the aspirations of the people of Andhra Pradesh. While the TDP took to media and made the Union government its punching bag, the Congress and the CPI took to streets to put the blame on the BJP and the TDP. Interestingly, the main Opposition YSR Congress “washed of” its hands by a mere statement condemning the budget.