Hyderabad: The meeting of YSR Congress President Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi has created a major stir in Andhra Pradesh politics and rattled the ruling Telugu Desam Party.

In a surprise move, Modi granted appointment to the leader of opposition in Andhra Pradesh assembly after ignoring many such requests in the past in view of many disproportionate assets and corruption cases pending against him.

Despite the fact that the BJP was a partner in the TDP led government in Andhra Pradesh, Modi agreed to meet the leader of opposition and accept a representation against the induction of four defected YSRCP MLAs in the state cabinet by the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Though the stated objective of the meeting was to discuss the issue of defections of YSRCP MLA and demand a CBI inquiry into Agri Gold scam, after the meeting Jaganmohan Reddy created ripples by announcing his party’s unconditional support to the NDA candidate in the Presidential elections.

“President’s post is prestigious and election should be unanimous. NDA has numbers and its candidate will win. There is no point in opposition putting up a candidate”, Jagan said. He said if the opposition forces an election, his party will support NDA. He recalled that even when he was in jail he had extended support to the UPA candidate Pranab Mukherji in 2012.

This has come as a big shot in the arm for the BJP leadership for whom every vote was crucial as the Congress-led opposition was trying to field a common candidate and BJP still needs a few more votes to muster a clear majority. Jagan whose party has 66 members in the state assembly and 10 members in parliament can ensure a clear edge to NDA in the race to Rashtarpati Bhavan.

However the meeting has come as a big setback for AP’s ruling Telugu Desam Party, an ally of the BJP. The meeting took place at a time when Jagan’s bête noire Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was on a visit to the USA. What has stung the TDP that none of its union ministers or any other senior leader was given any advance information about the impending meeting of Jagan with the Prime Minister.

Adding insult to injury for the TDP, the Prime Minister also accepted a book “Emperor of Corruption” on alleged corruption involving the TDP leaders including the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Jagan said that while he had differences with the BJP Over the issue of special category status of Andhra Pradesh, there was no enmity between the two parties. “I have urged the Prime Minister to reconsider the issue of SCS”, he said.

While the YSRCP leaders and cadres were jubilant over the much-awaited meeting, the TDP has reacted strongly. Senior minister D Umamaheshwar Rao has alleged that Jaganmohan Reddy had fallen on the feet of Prime Minister Modi to save himself from going to jail in cases of corruption.

“Let him fall on anybody’s feet, he cannot save himself from going to jail in corruption cases”, the minister told the media in Vijayawada on Thursday.

“Now he is making rounds of Delhi because he is sensing that he will be behind bars soon”, he added.

Jagan’s stand on Presidential elections has also come as a setback for the opposition which was struggling to field a common candidate. CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechuri was in Vijayawada Thursday as part of his efforts to bring the opposition together.

Meanwhile Jagan’s meeting with Narendra Modi has brought relief to the YSRCP leaders and cadres who were worried about the future as the enforcement directorate was continuing to pile up pressure on Jagan attaching his properties and issuing a spate of notices to him.