K Chandrasekhar Rao gels with NDA CMs, Naidu with non-BJP ones

Hyderabad: The company that Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu chose to keep at the venue of the Niti Aayog general council meeting in Delhi on Sunday seems to be a pointer to their future political stand. While Mr Rao stood with BJP and NDA chief ministers, Mr Naidu was with the anti-BJP Chief Ministers.  As Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered the hall, Mr Rao stood with BJP Chief Ministers Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), and Nitish Kumar (the BJP’s Bihar ally). Mr Naidu stood with West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Karnataka’s H.D. Kumaraswamy and Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan, all opposed to the BJP.

Mr Rao, who stayed in Delhi for four days, did not try to meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who has been protesting at the Lieutenant Governor’s residence, nor showed his solidarity despite being a proponent of the Federal Front of which Mr Kejriwal could be a likely supporter.  Other non-BJP and non-Congress Chief Ministers did extend their support to Mr Kejriwal and also brought up the issue with the Prime Minister during the meeting. 

Political circles are surprised that Mr Rao who proposed the alternative Federal Front and sought the support of Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and then went to Bengaluru before the Karnataka Assembly elections to meet and endorse the Janata Dal (S), did not meet either leader in  Delhi.  Two days before, Mr Rao had a one hour meeting with the Prime Minister and political pundits surmise that Mr Rao may have been influenced by the Prime Minister. 

What makes matters difficult for Mr Rao is that at the national level several regional parties are joining hands with the Congress to fight the BJP in the next general election.  But with the Congress his main political rival in the state, Mr Rao will be unlikely to endorse any formation that contains the Congress and the Federal Front may not take off as a consequence.