TDP exits NDA; govt says it has the numbers

New Delhi/Amaravati: N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) walked out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's coalition on Friday over financial support for Andhra Pradesh, delivering a blow to the BJP ahead of the 2019 national election.

Naidu's party will also ask for a no-confidence vote against the government in parliament, deciding against playing second fiddle to rival Jaganmohan Reddy's YSR Congress, which submitted its notice on Thursday.

"I took the decision, not for selfish reasons but the interests of Andhra Pradesh. For four years I made all efforts, went to Delhi 29 times, asked many times. This was the Centre's last budget, and there was no mention of Andhra Pradesh," Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said in the Andhra assembly.

Later, in the assembly, Naidu directly blamed PM Modi, saying "He is responsible for injustice to Andhra Pradesh."

On March 8, the TDP had pulled its two Ministers — Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Y.S. Chowdary — out of the Narendra Modi government but had stopped short of walking out of the alliance.

The TDP is the first party to leave the coalition since it came to power at the Centre in 2014.

The two no-confidence motions, with their target audience back in Andhra Pradesh ahead of polls next year, do not endanger the government, which has enough numbers in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress party, the CPM, the AIADMK, the AIMIM and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will support a no-trust motion against the BJP-led NDA government; the Trinamool Congress and the Shiv Sena may also support the motion moved by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the YSR Congress Party.

The ruling NDA dispensation, understandably, seemed unperturbed over the impending no-confidence motions in Lok Sabha.

"We are ready for a no-confidence motion, confidence motion or any discussion on the floor of the house," Union Minister Ananth Kumar said.

Amid protests in the Lok Sabha on Friday, YSR Congress's notice was taken up by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who, however, deferred it till Monday saying the "house is not in order". The Congress criticised the decision, accusing the government of staging the protests.

Another ally Shiv Sena, which has taken potshots at the BJP for over two years and has said it will go it alone in Maharashtra, declared that "the Modi wave is over". Sena sources say it is yet to decide on the no-trust motion. Expressing hope that the 'rashtravadi' (nationalist) and Hindutva forces will stay together, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis exuded confidence that Shiv Sena won't support the no-confidence motion against the NDA government. More reports inside