Naidu shares stage with Modi; alliance on the cards?

Amid reports that Telugu Desam Party is cosying up to National Democratic Alliance, party chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday shared the stage with Bharatiya Janata Party's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at a programme in New Delhi and heaped praise on the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

He joined Modi and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani at a programme organised in the national capital for college students.

Addressing the gathering, Naidu held the Congress-led UPA government responsible for the slowdown in the economy and the falling rupee.

"Congress should be defeated in the 2014 election or we will have to suffer for some more time. 2014 is a very good time to defeat Congress," he said.

Naidu recalled the achievements of the NDA government and said it had made progress in the field of highways, mobile connectivity and growth in technology.

There are reports that Naidu is in talks with BJP to join NDA ahead of the 2014 polls. He met BJP President Rajnath Singh recently on the issue of Telangana during which the issue of joining the alliance was also reportedly discussed.

However, BJP has maintained that till now there is no concrete move on the issue.

Naidu, whose main political adversary in Andhra Pradesh is Congress and YSR Congress, said the country is going through a crisis under UPA.

On the ongoing controversy over the ordinance on convicted lawmakers, Naidu said, "You have all seen the drama that is going on.... The Prime Minister is only a tool in the hands of Sonia Gandhi."

He said Rahul Gandhi had till last week not spoken on the Supreme Court verdict against convicted MPs which the ordinance sought to overturn.

He said the devaluation of the rupee has taken place under Congress rule and this has resulted in lack on foreign investment in the country.

The TDP chief saiid that since Independence till 1991, India was ruled by Congress, except for a brief spell of Janata Party rule, and the growth rate in this long period was only 3-4 per cent.

Though Modi shared the dais with Naidu and exchanged pleasantries with him, he did not make any specific mention of the TDP chief in his short inaugural speech.