Modi Calls On Naidu, Pawan Kalyan Amid Civic Poll Buzz

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s whirlwind tour of the capital on Sunday created a storm of speculation across the political landscape, starting from his “mere se jodo” (join me) offer to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to visiting the homes of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his deputy Pawan Kalyan here as well as sparing the BRS of any criticism.

Leaders cutting across party lines were enthusiastic about the PM’s visit to Naidu’s residence and spending nearly one hour there, and considerable time with the Jana Sena chief, though it was stated to be a courtesy call on Kalyan who had recently undergone surgery.

“Naidu has considerable clout in the city and surrounding areas and so is the case with PK. Their contribution, even indirectly, would help us in the GHMC elections,” a senior BJP leader told Deccan Chronicle, explaining the possible political angle to the visit.

The negative factor of “Andhra pettanam” will be marginalised if the much-talked about electoral understanding with the BRS becomes a reality. Interestingly, the Prime Minister avoided criticising the BRS in his speech at Parade Ground.

The TD leaders were also delighted over the Prime Minister’s specific reference to Cyberabad and how it had turned into an employment hub and growth engine for Telangana. “It is reminding people of our leader’s (Naidu) contribution to Hyderabad,” an important TD leader pointed out.

Besides his “ab ki baar BJP sarkar in Telangana” slogan sending the crowd at the Parade Ground public meeting into euphoria, Modi’s calculated moves – visiting the residences of Naidu and Kalyan, avoiding criticism against the Bharata Rashtra Samithi and the tongue-in-cheek offer to Revanth Reddy – left enough fodder for political pundits.

Revanth Reddy, while endorsing PM’s Viksit Bharat vision, sought to do a balancing act by reminding the latter of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s generous Central assistance to Gujarat. “It is always a tight rope walk for Revanth because as CM he has to get funds for the state and at the same time can’t be seen as praising PM in the eyes of Central leadership,” sources close to Revanth Reddy pointed out. They were also of the view that the Prime Minister made a deliberate attempt to sow seeds of suspicion with his “mere se jodo” remark.