TDP set to exit NDA alliance

Will back YSR Congress’ ‘noconfidence’ motion in Parl

N Chandrababu Naidu, whose relationship with the BJP has been frosty for weeks, may finally call it off and then back bitter rival Jaganmohan Reddy’s no-trust motion against the centre.

TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has called a politburo meeting on Friday to take a final call on the issue of exiting from the NDA. Sources said that a majority of the members including MPS, MLAS and senior leaders have already told Naidu to quit NDA. “This is the final option. The CM is livid that instead of resolving issues faced by the state, the BJP is indulging in dirty politics that it played in Tamil Nadu,’’ TDP leader Kambhampati Rammohan Rao said.

The TDP’S support to the no-confidence motion to be moved in parliament by Jagan Reddy’s YSR Congress is seen as a signal that the party is willing to back its political rival for the sake of Andhra Pradesh.

Last week the TDP pulled its two ministers out of the central government but had stopped short of walking out of the alliance.

On Thursday morning, Naidu addressed his party parliamentarians in Delhi through teleconference and reportedly said Wednesday’s bypoll results in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar reflected an antiModi and anti-bjp wave.

Naidu also accused the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using YSR Congress Party and actor K Pavan Kalyan’s Jena Sena Party to target him and the TDP.

The Centre had earlier turned down Naidu’s demand for special category status to Andhra Pradesh saying the nomenclature had been done away with, except for hill states and states in the Northeast. But Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had promised the state funds equivalent to what a special category state gets.