New Kingmaker? CM Chandrababu Naidu makes some moves towards opposition unity in 2019

In an interesting turn, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has emerged as a new force for opposition unity against the NDA government. Naidu is reportedly leaving no stone unturned to reach out to opposition parties, including Congress. This is surprising since Naidu and his Telugu Desam Party had long subscribed to an anti-Congress plank. In fact, TDP had squarely blamed Congress for the messy Andhra bifurcation. But Naidu has had a bitter falling out with NDA since, on the issue of the Centre failing to grant special category status to Andhra.

Political compulsions underlie Naidu’s stance, as no Andhra party can be seen to be with BJP under present circumstances. Naidu has stitched an alliance for upcoming Telangana polls that includes TDP, Congress, CPI and Telangana Jana Samithi. In Andhra, however, Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress has been highlighting the fact that TDP and BJP were in alliance for four years. This in turn is feeding anti-incumbency that Naidu is wary of.

Thus a TDP-Congress tie up makes sense in Andhra too, on the hypothesis that present grievances matter far more than past grievances. An alliance with Congress could provide Naidu enough cushion to beat anti-incumbency and blunt YSR Congress’s challenge. And Naidu is eyeing a similar opposition arrangement for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. However, considering his weakened position, he has not thrown his own hat into the ring as leader of a potential mahagathbandhan at the national level. On the other hand he is reported to be keen to play the role of kingmaker, offering his good offices to bring other opposition players together.

But opposition unity at the national level is hampered by state-level antagonisms, such as that between YSR Congress and Naidu’s outfit. Any mahagathbandhan project will have to climb a steep uphill slope negotiating these antagonisms. Given those limitations, Naidu’s may be a good face for the opposition unity project. Unlike Congress president Rahul Gandhi – who is seen as inexperienced at governance – and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee – who comes across as too mercurial – Naidu is an astute politician with a commendable development track record. Hence, with regional parties still not fully comfortable with Congress leading the opposition unity project – as recently exemplified by BSP’s reluctance to tie up with Congress in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh – Naidu could serve as a foil to get opposition parties on a common platform.