According to sources the remarks came days after TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu shared dais with Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and the leaders of several regional parties at the swearing-in of HD Kumaraswamy as the CM of the Congress-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka. Earlier AP has been seeking special category status from the Centra on the grounds that it is at a disadvantage, especially after the loss of capital Hyderabad to Telangana.
Previously in March, the TDP withdrew from the NDA government over the Centre's refusal to grant special status to the state. Meanwhile when asked why the TDP did not pull out of the NDA government for four years, he said "We did not withdraw the support earlier because we were dependent on the Centre and moreover the state would have suffered a lot had we done that. We waited for four years for the central government to make good on its promises to Andhra Pradesh."
Furthermore when asked if Naidu could be projected
as the prime ministerial candidate of the "third front", which a few
regional parties have been mooting for some time as an alternative to the
Congress and the BJP, the minister said "Chandrababu Naidu will be
kingmaker".
