UP shows regional parties will call the shots: Naidu

Predicting that the trend of coalition governments would continue, the TDP today said it would play a key role in national politics in future...

Predicting that the trend of coalition governments would continue, the TDP today said it would play a key role in national politics in future but maintained silence on the issue of forging a Third Front.

“There is no alternative to coalition governments for the next 20 years. In the coming days, the regional parties will gain further strength and become crucial in deciding the shape of future coalitions at the Centre,” the TDP chief and former Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu said in his 80-minute address at the party’s three-day annual general meeting which was attended by over 12,000 delegates. He, however, skirted the issue of Third Front.

Naidu, who was widely seen as a kingmaker during the United Front and NDA regimes, said his party would again play an important role in national politics.

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Referring to the recent poll outcome in Uttar Pradesh, the TDP chief said it demonstrated the growing strength of regional outfits and marginalisation of national parties like the Congress and the BJP.

Naidu had also campaigned for the Samajwadi Party in UP. However, the defeat of the Mulayam Singh-led SP appears to have come as a setback to the Third Front initiative.

Criticising the economic reforms of the UPA Government, Naidu said his party would take lead in offering an alternative economic policy as the present reforms model had only widened the gulf between the rich and the poor. “The fruits of reforms are not reaching the poor. It is time to look for an alternative reforms model to improve the living standards of the poor, revive agriculture sector and rural economy.”