Sena chief refuses to meet TDP delegation

The efforts by the Telugu Desam Party to reach out to the Shiv Sena for support to the no-confidence motion that it plans to move against the Narendra Modi Government during the forthcoming Monsoon session of Parliament failed on Sunday, as Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray refused to give an appointment for a meeting with a TDP delegation.

The day began with sources in the TDP in Hyderabad going to town saying that a party delegation — comprising its Lok Sabha floor leader Thota Narasimham and MP P Ravindra Babu — would meet Thackeray at the latter residence “Matoshri” at Bandra in north-west Mumbai at 5.30 pm. Later in the day, Narasimhan told a section of the media that he and Ravindra Babu had been promised an appointment for the meeting with Thackeray by Sena MP Anandrao Adsul from Amravati.  Reports also indicated that the TDP delegation would meet NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai after its meeting with Thackeray.  However, Shiv Sena’s spokesperson Harshal Pradhan categorically stated that Thackeray had not given any appointment for a meeting with the TDP delegation. Reports said in the evening that with no appointment for a meeting with Thackeray,  Narasimhan and Ravindra Babu had headed straight to New Delhi from Hyderabad.

In a related development, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu shot off a letter to leaders of various Opposition parties seeking their support to the no-confidence motion to be moved by the TDP during the Monsoon session of Parliament beginning on July 18. It may be recalled that on March 16, 2018, the Chandrabahu Naidu-headed TDP had walked out of the BJP-led NDA in protest against the Narendra Modi Government’s failure to  fulfil the promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

In its letter dated July 14, 2018, Naidu stated among other things that the Centre had not fulfilled its assurance of according Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh for a period of five years.