Hyderabad — Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was all fire and brimstone as he unleashed a media blitzkrieg against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP during his first visit to the national capital after his Telulgu Desam party quit the NDA.

Naidu, who met leaders of as many as 15 different political parties including BJP’s bête noire Congress, has set the ball rolling for a new political realignment before the next elections. While his meetings with the leaders of regional and smaller parties was natural given his partnership with them in the past either in the United Front alliance or later in the NDA, his decision to meet several Congress leader sent a clear message that he was ready to go to any extent to save his turf and ensure that Andhra Pradesh get its due from the Centre. However, in a series of interviews to national TV channels and newspapers he evaded questions regarding the formation of a Federal Front and the possibility of partnering with Congress, but dropped sufficient hints that there were no permanent friends or enemies in the state.

“Congress is irrelevant in Andhra Pradesh. BJP too had no significant presence in the state,” he said in one of the interviews adding that the TDP will go it alone and emerge stronger in the next elections. He in fact stopped short of describing the BJP a liability when he said that if he had fought the 2014 elections without allying with the BJP his party could have bagged another 15 assembly seats.

While his meeting with leaders like Sharad Pawar and Delhi Chief Minister Arinvd Kejirwal were also significant, it was striking that he did not meet any central minister or notable leader of the BJP. On the contrary, Naidu complained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pointedly ignored him in the Parliament House.

He also bitterly complained to the media that the BJP and Prime Minister Modi were “sponsoring and encouraging” a corrupt political party. He was pointing towards the increasing bonhomie and warmth between the BJP and the YSR Congress party whose two leaders Jaganmohan Reddy and Vijaysai Reddy were accused No. 1 and 2 in corruption cases.

Naidu was bitter that the Prime Minister had betrayed the people of Andhra Pradesh by not fulfilling the promises made to the state in the State Reorganisation Act and at the time of last elections. “My focus is only on getting justice to Andhra Pradesh as we have suffered massively because of the unscientific bifurcation,” he said, explaining why the state should get the Special Category Status.

Through his appearance on all the major TV channels Naidu tried to counter the propaganda of BJP leaders that his state government had diverted or misused central funds. “Through such baseless allegations the BJP was trying to weaken our state government,” he said. He also voiced concern that better performing governments were being deprived of benefits and there was no cooperative federalism in the country.

The most notable takeaway from Naidu’s Delhi visit was that all the bridges between him and the BJP were burnt and only a miracle, if any, will bring them together before the next elections. When asked about the possibility of his joining a Congress-led front, Naidu said, “I am not here to play politics. I am here to fight for justice for my state.”

But he gave sufficient indications that he was open to the idea of a Federal Front or Third Front for which West Bengal’s Mamata Bannerji and Telangana’s K Chandrasekhar Rao were working. He disagreed with a scribe’s view that KCR was his enemy. “He is not my enemy, he is my colleague,” he said surprisingly. Between the lines the message was clear that Naidu was back to play a key role on the national political stage.