Author: News Analysis India

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets ready to take oath for his second tenure later in the day, party president Amit Shah has started calling up likely ministers who will be inducted in the Modi Cabinet. According to reports, after a final round of consultations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah has called BJP leader from Bihar Ravi Shankar Prasad, senior leader Prakash Javadekar, Union minister Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Prasad. 

Ministers selected for oath of office will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence at 4.30 today, shortly before the swearing-in ceremony. 

The list of union ministers is likely to be sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan soon. 

Here are the ministers who have received call from Amit Shah:
1. Ravi Shankar Prasad 

2. Prakash Javadekar 

3. Piyush Goyal

4. Dharminder Pradhan 

5. SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal 

6. BJP MP from Asansol, Babul Supriyo 

7. DV Sadananda Gowda, BJP leader from Karnataka 

8. Nitin Gadkari 

9. Giriraj Singh 

10. Kiren Rijiju 

11. Gajendra Shekhawat 

12. Purushottam Rupala 

13. OP Ravindranath Kumar of AIADMK 

14. Yadav Nityanand Rai 

15. Mansukh Mandaviya 

16. Assam MP Rameswar Teli 

17. Shripad Naik 

18. Sanjay Dhotre, Akola MP, BJP 

19. Santosh Gangwar 

20. Ramesh Pokhriyal 

21. Niranjan Jyoti, BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh 

22. Jitendra Singh 

23. Sanjeev Balyan 

24. Arjun Ram Meghwal 

25. Thawar Chand Gehlot 

26. Shripad Yesso Naik, BJP 

27. General (Retd) VK Singh 

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi will attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath ceremony today, sources have said. PM Modi’s second swearing-in will be a grand event at the presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of politicians, world leaders and celebrities.

Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi’s decision stands out after an acrimonious election that saw PM Modi and other BJP leaders relentlessly targeting them as well as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra; the Gandhi siblings hitting right back.

PM Modi was condemned by the opposition for targeting even former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi – Sonia Gandhi’s husband – who was assassinated in 1991 by an LTTE suicide bomber.

The BJP, led by PM Modi, won a staggering victory in the national election and a clear mandate to retain power for a second term – a feat achieved only by the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi in the past. 

The Congress, at the same time, has suffered a crushing defeat and has been decimated in 18 states and union territories. The party is in an existential crisis that has intensified with Rahul Gandhi’s refusal to continue as Congress president after the drubbing, and his insistence that a non-Gandhi should lead the organization for a change.

Since Saturday, the Congress has been trying to persuade Rahul Gandhi to change his mind.

Leaders from BIMSTEC countries, the Prime Minister of Mauritius and the President of Kyrgystan – who is also the chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) – will attend the oath ceremony.

PM-elect Narendra Modi will likely hold a bilateral with Kyrgyzstan President, who arrived in New Delhi today, after the swearing-in ceremony. According to reports, the meeting is likely to be at 10.15 pm.

An updated list of the likely Cabinet ministers includes names of BJP Begusarai MP Giriraj Singh, Fatehpur MP Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti. Several ministers, including Prakash Javadekar, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Ramesh Pokhriyal, have received the call from BJP chief Amit Shah to be part of the new Cabinet which will be sworn in at 7 pm today at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Smriti Irani, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal, Ramdas Athawale, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Prahlad Joshi, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Babul Supriyo, Nitin Gadkari, Nityananda Rai, Sanjeev Baliyan, Anupriya Patel, Thawar Chand Gehlot and Harsimrat Kaur are likely to be a part of the new Narendra Modi Cabinet, even as several hopefuls wait to be part of the government ahead of the swearing-in ceremony today at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

According to reports, Modi will meet the new ministers at his residence at 4.30 pm today ahead of the swearing-in ceremony. A list of probable ministers was released earlier today to the media, however, this is not the final list. The full official list of Cabinet ministers and their portfolios will be released to the public after the oath-taking ceremony.

The Bangalore North MP-elect Sadananda Gowda is also said to have received a call from Lok Kalyan Marg confirming his selection to the ministerial berth, News18 reports. Earlier reports said that SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur and Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant will likely be part of the new Cabinet.

Quoting sources in the Prime Minister’s Office told the media that new ministers to be inducted in the Cabinet will meet Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi at 4.30 pm before the swearing-in ceremony which is scheduled for 7 pm at Rashtrapati Bhavan. According to News18, BJP chief Amit Shah has already started making calls to probable Cabinet ministers.

According to reports, Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah are meeting to discuss the list of new ministers at Modi’s residence at the 7 Lok Kalyan Marg. Ahead of today’s ceremony, Shah and Modi had a flurry of meetings deliberating on the list of new ministers to be inducted in the new Cabinet.

While the number and names of the leaders who would take oath as ministers in the second stint of the NDA government have been kept under wraps, there is much speculation about the composition of the cabinet. Modi and Shah, who had a five-hour meeting on Tuesday, met again on Wednesday evening for a three-hour session. While no details were available, the meetings are understood to be part of the process of finalising the government portfolios.

The probable names of new ministers to be inducted in Narendra Modi government for the second term haven’t been made public yet, but reports have quoted Shiv Sena leaders as saying that each BJP ally will likely get one ministerial post. Harsimrat Kaur Badal of BJP’s ally in Punjab Shiromani Akali Dal is likely to be given a ministerial berth, reports have said. Badal was also the Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing in the 16th Lok Sabha.  Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut said that Arvind Sawant has been chosen on Uddhav Thackeray’s suggestion. “From Shiv Sena one leader will take oath as a minister. Uddhav ji has given Arvind Sawant’s name, he will take oath as a minister,” Raut said.

A traffic advisory issued a day ahead of the ceremony said several roads in New Delhi district will be closed for movement of public between 4 pm to 9 pm on Thursday and motorists and public were asked to avoid them.

The advisory further said roads including Rajpath — from Vijay Chowk to Rashtrapati Bhavan, Vijay Chowk and adjoining areas including North and South fountain, South Avenue, North Avenue, Dara-Shikoh Road and Church Road will be closed for public between 4 pm and 9 pm.

A multi-layered security arrangement will be in place in the National Capital today, with the deployment of around 10,000 security personnel from Delhi Police and paramilitary forces on account of Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony which will be attended by foreign dignitaries and chief ministers and governors of several states among others.

The swearing-in ceremony of Modi and his Council of Ministers is scheduled to take place today at 7 PM at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Quick Response Teams will be deployed at several crucial spots. Snipers will also be deployed atop several important buildings as Modi will visit Rajghat, Sadaiv Atal Samadhi and National War Memorial on Thursday to pay homage, a senior police official said.

“Over 10,000 security personnel from Delhi Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed on account of the swearing-in-ceremony,” the official said.

Another police official said over 2,000 security personnel will also be deployed along the route to be taken by Modi and other foreign dignitaries.

A number of heads of states, heads of governments, constitutional authorities, diplomats, senior political leaders, government officials and media persons are scheduled to attend the ceremony.

A traffic official added that necessary traffic diversions will be given for several roads including Akbar Road, Rajpath, Teen Murti Marg, Krishna Menon Marg, Pandit Pant Marg, Talkatora Road, Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Road, Tyagaraj Marg and SP Marg.

Similarly, traffic diversions will be given on Khushak Road, K Kamaraj Marg, Rajaji Marg, Shanti Path, Raisina Road — beyond Rail Bhawan roundabout towards Parliament House and Moti Lal Nehru Marg (beyond roundabout Udyog Bhawan towards R.P. Bhawan) which are expected to face congestion due to the ceremony, the traffic official added.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday claimed Hindu Mahasabha leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had first sown the seed of the two-nation theory which was later taken forward by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the late founder of Pakistan.

The Congress leader claimed efforts are being made to change Jawaharlal Nehru’s idea of India and said the first Prime Minister started nuclear and space programmes and oversaw building of world-class institutions.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel will embark on a tour of Bastar region on Thursday.

Apart from participating in various programmes, he will also unveil a statue of one of ‘martyrs’ of Jheeram incident late Mahendra Karma at district headquarters Jagdalpur.

Karma was among the top Congress leaders who were killed in a Maoist attack in Jheeram in 2013.

According to official sources Baghel will proceed to Jagdalpur at 11 amon Thursday and will chair a meeting of Bastar Development Authority at 11.30 am. Thereafter he will attend a conference of Collectors and Superintendents of Police (SPs) of the region.

In late afternoon, he will participate in a workshop on Forest Rights. After that he will unveil the statue of Karma at district headquarters at 5.30pm.

He will also meet delegations of Maoist affected people late in the evening and will take a night halt at Jagdalpur.

Rahul Gandhi remains adamant about quitting as Congress president but scores of party workers will go to his Delhi home to persuade him to change his mind, senior leader Sheila Dikshit said on Wednesday. Sheila Dikshit, a three-time chief minister of Delhi, said she would also be among Congress leaders who would try to meet Rahul Gandhi at 4 pm.

“Rahul Gandhi is adamant about resigning. But we will not accept his resignation at all. He has done good work. Winning and losing are part of life, but it is important to keep fighting,” Sheila Dikshit, who was among the seven Congress candidates who lost in Delhi, told NDTV.

“We have lost and we are analysing our defeat. We will remedy our mistakes. We lost during Indira Gandhi’s time too. Today we will go with party workers to placate him,” said the former Delhi Chief Minister, who is seen as close to the Gandhi family.

Rahul Gandhi, at a Congress Working Committee meeting he called on Saturday after the party’s massacre in the national election, said he had decided to step down as party president, a post he took over from his mother Sonia Gandhi in December 2017. He also put forth a biting critique of veterans who, he alleged, had put their sons before the party’s interest and thus cost the Congress in big states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which it had won just five months ago.

Since then, despite pleading and entreaties by party men, Rahul Gandhi has refused to go back on his resignation and has firmly asked the Congress to pick a new president, that too a non-Gandhi. For the Congress, which has mostly had a Nehru-Gandhi at the helm, such a prospect is unthinkable.

Just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony tomorrow, outgoing Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has decided not to take up any active responsibility in the new government due to his poor health. 

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Jaitley said he had orally informed Modi about his desire to not be a part of the new BJP government so that it enabled him to concentrate on his treatment and health. “I am writing to you to formally request you that I should be allow.

He has not been seen in public for at least two weeks but has been publishing blogs and messages on social media. 

Jaitley, a lawyer-turned politician, often acted as chief troubleshooter in the Modi government. In the past five years, Jaitley steered through parliament major economic legislation such as a Goods and Services Tax (GST) – which had languished for nearly two decades – and has defended controversial policies for the government. 

Modi had given him the responsibility of three ministries when he first took office in 2014, finance, defence and information and broadcasting ministries. 

A diabetic, Jaitley’s health issues became worse after he had a kidney transplant in May last year. He also had to skip the interim budget in February when he was in hospital in the US. 

 After reports that families of 54 West bengal BJP workers killed in alleged political violence will attend Modi’s swearing-in, a furious Mamata Banerjee has walked back on her decision to do attend the event. She tweeted that all reports of political violence in Bengal are untrue and advised BJP not to ‘devalue’ an ‘august occasion’ to score political points.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley who had held key portfolios in the Union Cabinet including the finance ministry has asked to be relieved of any ministerial responsibilities for the second term. Jaitley has written a letter to Modi, stating that he would like to focus on his treatment and health for some time. Speculations around Jaitley’s health were doing rounds for a long time. Government officials responded and said that reports on the deteriorating health of Jaitley are false and baseless, and media should stay clear of rumour mongering. Amid speculations on the state of Jaitley’s health, government spokesperson Sitanshu Kar took to Twitter to clear the air.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah held a marathon meeting on Tuesday to discuss crucial aspects of the new government and the likely allocation of ministerial berths. On Wednesday too, the duo are expected to hold consultations to finalise the Union Cabinet head of the swearing-in tomorrow.

A group of Congress workers sat on an indefinite fast outside Rahul Gandhi’s residence after the news of him being adamant on resigning as Congress chief leaked out. Media reports claimed that the workers are demanding that Rahul continues as Congress chief and reorganise the party to fight back.

The crisis in the Congress showed no signs of easing on Tuesday with Rahul Gandhi sticking to his decision to resign as party chief after its Lok Sabha poll debacle and staying way from meeting party leaders, except a few including his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Sources said Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot went to meet Gandhi at his Tughlaq lane residence, but they only managed to meet Priyanka there.

With senior Congress leaders pressing upon Rahul Gandhi to take back his resignation and revamp the party at all levels in these challenging times, a number of allies stood by him and urged him not to quit, describing him as the “best and competent” person to pull the party out of the abyss.

The sources said Gandhi is not meeting anyone and remains incommunicado. He met only Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi during the day, besides party leaders K C Venugopal and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

Asked about the meeting, Gehlot and Pilot said that they did go to Rahul Gandhi’s residence separately and spent some 20 minutes each there.

Gehlot was reportedly ticked off by Gandhi at the CWC meeting on May 25 for giving priority to campaigning for his son in Jodhpur and neglecting other parts of the state.

Rahul Gandhi met Sonia Gandhi in the evening and the two spent some time together. Sonia Gandhi came along with Rahul to drop him at his residence and spent some time there too.

The sources indicate that the state executive of Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee will be meeting on Wednesday in Jaipur and would endorse the CWC resolution urging Rahul Gandhi to continue as party chief and steer the party out of its current state. The state co-ordination committee of Haryana is also meeting tomorrow.

The sources said more PCCs are likely to endorse the CWC resolution, as Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit also appealed to Rahul to withdraw his decision to step down, saying the party has bounced back in the past from challenging circumstances to triumph.

The chorus of voices urging Rahul Gandhi not to quit grew as DMK chief M K Stalin told the Congress president that he has won the hearts of the people, while RJD supremo Lalu Prasad termed the offer to quit as “suicidal”, asserting it would amount to “falling into the BJP’s trap”.

Tamil superstar Rajinikanth also said the Congress chief should stay on as he was a “youngster” and perhaps not got the cooperation of senior party leaders.

Rahul Gandhi offered to quit as party chief at the CWC meeting on 25 May that unanimously rejected his offer and authorised him to overhaul and restructure the party at all levels. He is reported to be insisting on his resignation and adamant on having a non-Gandhi installed as the party head.

As senior Congress leaders made a determined bid to convince Gandhi to withdraw his resignation, Shashi Tharoor, who scored an electoral hat-trick by winning from the Thiruvanathapuram Lok Sabha seat, said Gandhi has led the party from the front and still has far more to offer to it.

The Congress bagged 52 seats, marginally up from 44 secured in 2014. Another Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said, “Instead of resigning, he should seek resignations of leaders at all levels and restructure the party.”

M Veerappa Moily, also of the Congress, termed the poll setback as a “passing phase”.

Describing Gandhi as an “inspiration” for the party, Moily said it was not appropriate for him to quit his post.

“Just because (Narendra) Modi has won…that is not a criteria to leave the presidentship. After all, ups and downs are common for the Congress party. We have seen them many a time,” he said.
Gandhi should not insist on his resignation and should “continue to guide the destiny of the party and the nation”, he said.

“Apart from legacy, on his own personality, he is the most competent person to lead the party,” Moily said.

During his telephonic conversation with Gandhi, Stalin told him though the Congress party has suffered defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, “you have won the hearts of the people”.

The DMK-led front in Tamil Nadu won 37 of the 38 LS seats to which election was held in the state.

Lalu Prasad tweeted: “Rahul’s offer to resign suicidal. Opposition parties had the common goal to dislodge BJP but failed to build a national narrative. The result in a particular election can never alter the reality in as diverse and plural a country as India.”

Asked by reporters in Chennai about Gandhi’s offer to resign, Rajnikanth said, “He should not resign.”

Leaders are pointing out that the CWC, which is the highest decision-making body of the party, has already put down in writing its decision at the meeting on May 25.

Asked at the AICC briefing, party spokesperson Pawan Khera said, “Let us not indulge in any speculation. The resolution of CWC stands and that is where we are.”

Time magazine, which published a cover story before the Lok Sabha elections calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the “Divider in Chief”, has carried an editorial with the headline ‘Modi Has United India Like No Prime Minister in Decades’.

The article with that headline published on its website on Tuesday, asked “How has this supposedly divisive figure not only managed to keep power, but increase his levels of support?” and answered: “A key factor is that Modi has managed to transcend India’s greatest fault line: the class divide”.

The writer, Manoj Ladwa, credited Modi’s emergence as a unifier to his origins in a backward caste — a factor missed or deliberately omitted by Western media obsessed with what they call upper caste domination.

“Narendra Modi was born into one of India’s most disadvantaged social groups,” he explained. “In reaching the very top, he personifies the aspirational working classes and can self-identify with his country’s poorest citizens in a way that the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, who have led India for most of the 72 years since independence, simply cannot.”

“Yet despite the strong and often unfair criticisms levelled at Modi’s policies both throughout his first term and this marathon election, no Prime Minister has united the Indian electorate as much in close to five decades,” he said, referring to Indira Gandhi’s massive 1971 victory.

The pre-election cover story by Aatish Taseer was turned into campaign fodder and acclaimed by Modi’s critics as an indictment of him as a “divider” by a global media powerhouse. Time magazine has changed hands twice in a year — bought in March last year by Meredith, the publisher of magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, and All Recipes, it was sold in again in September to tech entrepreneur Marc Benioff, the founder of Salesforce, and his wife.

In fact, Time’s flagship US edition did not bother to run the Modi story as cover, and instead gave the spot to Elizabeth Warren, a candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination for president.

The Britain-born son of Indian journalist Tavleen Singh and the late Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab, Taseer wrote in the cover story, “Not only has Modi’s economic miracle failed to materialise, he has also helped create an atmosphere of poisonous religious nationalism in India.”

However, in the latest story, Ladwa writes: “Through socially progressive policies, he has brought many Indians, both Hindus and religious minorities, out of poverty at a faster rate than in any previous generation.”

Ladwa is the founder and CEO of Britain-based media company India Inc., which publishes India Global Business.

In Time’s other post-election analysis, Alyssa Ayres, who was the deputy assistant secretary of state in former President Barack Obama’s administration, hedged her bets on the economic course of his second term.

She wrote: “A bold economic reform agenda may be what comes next. But equally possible, based on the recent track record, might be stepped-up development projects in lieu of tough reforms, and a more nationalist approach to economic matters.”

“A mandate for improved quality of life might not imply a mandate for further opening markets. It’s a distinction that matters, not least because expectations internationally might assume the latter,” she added.

Ayres, now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, saw a bumpy road ahead for India-US economic relations with President Donald Trump’s focus on trade deficits.

The 2019 national elections may be over but the country’s political discourse is still in a time warp. The political slugfest involving former Prime Ministers, the father of the nation and his assassin had barely died down when Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday dragged in BJP icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar into the fight, saying that it was he who had pitched the idea of carving out Pakistan from India before Independence.

“Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had first thought of the two-nation theory. His theory was taken forward by Muhammad Ali Jinnah,” Mr Baghel was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. He was addressing Congress workers on former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s death anniversary in Raipur.

“Savarkar had put forward the proposal of dividing the country into two parts on religious grounds and Jinnah had implemented it. This is a historical fact and no one can deny it,” the Congress leader said.

“He had fought for the independence of the country and was put in Andaman and Nicobar jail. Not just once but he apologised repeatedly to Britishers and after coming out of jail he stayed away from the fight for the country’s independence. He had thought of two countries, this is also historically true,” he added.

Mr Baghel’s remarks come a day ahead of the birth anniversary of Savarkar, known for formulating the foundation of the Hindutva philosophy that form the philosophical foundation for the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Chances are, in contrast to most BJP leaders and activists who would be celebrating their mammoth victory, glancing with pride at the saffron-splashed map of India, when Amit Shah looks at it, his eye would not fall with delight at the hue that has covered states from Kashmir to Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh, or the big new splashing of it in Bengal, Odisha and North East but rather on the 100-odd seats of south India where the colour is anything but saffron.

The three states of Tamil Naidu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been politically represented strongly by regional parties rooted in a combination of linguistic pride and sub-nationalism, sense of an “evolved culture”, distinct movies and a uniquely local flavour of social justice and welfare governance. These factors, in conjunction, proved to be the high wall for the BJP to scale — whose perception as a Hindi party even before its Hindutva is considered for decades. In the past, the perception that it was as an upper caste Brahminical party hindered it from planting roots in a Dravidian culture.

Kerala’s strong sense of Leftist orientation and strongly pronounced secular outlook have proved to be a deterrence. Karnataka had given BJP a chance, but the leadership the party provided and the governance it offered proved a dampener.

When Tamil Nadu reeled under protests against a Supreme Court verdict on jallikattu, the BJP was not at the lead. Whenever Kaveri river water disputes erupt, the party is not too sure of its position. When a separate Telangana was a quest of its people, or when Andhra Pradesh demands special category status, the BJP has not found its footing.

Little wonder, the party was ecstatic when it found a hook in Sabarimala in Kerala, hoping a single issue would propel it to harness its strong foundation of RSS network in the state to gain parliamentary seats, which did not materialise. It was the first real emotive issue for it in the south which it led and found public salience, and it takes a steep curve ahead to harvest MPs.

Leaders are created by movements, but it takes smart local leaders to identify potential issues — the BJP has largely been bereft of both. A few leaders of the previous generation were committed to the party, but without adequate hunger, or capacity, to grow it.

The BJP has also not found such badly managed states where the economy has floundered, crime has taken over society, and opportunities lacking as is it did in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar or West Bengal in the south.

The various governments here, despite the corruption and caste riddles socio-political contexts, have delivered sound economic growth, jobs opportunities, better infrastructure and welfare that actually reaches and touches people across the south. This has meant that there has never been a strong, ready-to-eat-pie of anti-incumbency or political vacuum for the BJP to grab.

In short, the traditionally ruled BJP ruled states, or its Gujarat model does not come across as a salivating prospect or an ideal for people.

In the south, deceased leaders like MG Ramachandran, M Karunanidhi, J Jayalalithaa, NT Rama Rao and S Rajasekhara Reddy held such sway over political narrative, their party and governance, in touch with the masses and a grip on the media, giving little scope for a party like the BJP to come and disrupt.

Their ability to offer the right support to the governments at the centre during nearly 25 years of coalition governments meant national parties in Delhi wanted their support, not become their rivals.

For example, when the BJP became the first party to support the cause of Telangana, the TRS was not even born, but the alliance with N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP meant it could never push for it locally, not when the Central government of NDA led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee needed the support of the TDP.