Now, Naidu to support JD(S)

ANDHRA PRADESH Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu SAID while the Congress had betrayed the state by dividing a combined AP against the wishes of its people, the BJP had done wrong by not keeping its promise to grant special status to AP.

Hyderabad: Following Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has now announced his support for Janata Dal (S) in the Karnataka elections.

Following Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has now announced his support for Janata Dal (S) in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections.

While KCR announced his support openly and even offered to campaign if JD (S) leaders wanted, Pawan was more discreet, meeting former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD (S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Naidu, too, has indirectly announced his support to JD (S). On Friday, Naidu appealed to Telugu voters of Karnataka to not vote for parties “who betrayed AP”. A senior Telugu Desam (TD) leader said the Congress and BJP are the chief contestants in Karnataka.

According to sources within TD, Naidu’s reason for not openly supporting JD (S) is that there are speculations in Karnataka political circles that BJP and JD (S) have a secret pact. If the Congress fails to win an absolute majority, chances are that JD (S) may from the government with support from BJP. If this happens, TD will have ended up indirectly supporting the BJP. With this in mind, the TD leadership is not in favour of openly supporting JD (S).