Ever since he lost power to YSR Congress party in May 2019, Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been desperately trying to get closer to the Bharatiya Janata Party in general and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular.
A few weeks after the electoral debacle, Naidu admitted openly at the party meeting that the TDP should not have entered into confrontation with the NDA government and said he had no personal enmity with Modi or Union home minister Amit Shah.
Subsequently, whenever there was an occasion, Naidu wrote letters to Modi and Shah in the humblest language, appreciating the efforts of the Centre. He greeted Modi and Shah on their birthdays, though they had not reciprocated his greetings.
The TDP chief has been regularly tweeting lauding the Centre, while tagging Modi and Shah. Even during the latest Coronavirus situation, Naidu gave a call to the people to follow Modi’s appeal for claps and lighting of lamps. And he, too, religiously followed Modi’s call.
Yet, Modi seems to have turned a blind eye to Naidu. On Sunday, the Prime Minister called every senior leader in the country including chief ministers, various opposition leaders and even past presidents like Pranab Mukherjee and Pratibha Patil.
He even spoke to his detractors like Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, M K Stalin, Deve Gowda and even Mamata Banerjee.
But Modi conveniently ignored Naidu, who had vast administrative experience as chief minister for over 14 years. In fact, the TDP chief handled several such crisis situations in the past.
Yet, the Prime Minister chose to ignore Naidu. May be, he has not forgotten the rant of the TDP chief during the last elections and the animosity Naidu had displayed against him during the Gujarat riots.
In any case, it is better Naidu realises that Modi-Shah have closed the doors of the NDA for him permanently!