Hyderabad, May 26 (IANS) Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu Sunday said he was not aspirant for the prime minister’s post.
Confident of a ‘Third Front’ of like-minded parties coming to power at the centre, Naidu said it would choose the prime ministerial candidate before or after the next year’s elections on the basis of consensus.
“I was never an aspirant and even today I am not an aspirant,” said the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister, who played a key role in formation of United Front governments in 1996 and 1998.
“There are so many people. They are well experienced. I don’t want to name anybody. They are stalwarts and have worked as chief minister for 10 to 15 years,” he said in an interaction with the national media.
Denying that he aspires to be a kingmaker, Naidu said he can make some difference as he did in the past. He claimed that the national highway projects, different ways for wealth creation, cash transfer and even the recent proposal to have printers attached to electronic voting machines were his ideas.
“When I am able to do this while in opposition, tomorrow, when we get good number of seats, naturally we can play our role,” he said.
“I want to see this great nation prosper. I don’t have any doubt that if we do good politics we will become one of the best countries in the world,” he said.
“I can’t guarantee that because there are so many problems at national level. We will work it out either through pre-poll or post-poll alliance. I am not in a position to answer this,” he said when asked whether the third front would announce its PM candidate before polls.
“All these things will depend on situation tomorrow. I am not going to say it is going to happen immediately,” he added.
On whether the constituents of United Front would be part of the third front, the TDP chief said some more parties may join.
“There are so many people. I don’t want to name them today,” he said if the proposed front would also have Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha.
Confident that 1996 and 1998 situation would be repeated at the centre, Naidu said the regional parties would once again play a key role as the Congress was diminishing and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failing to pick up.
“The Congress-led UPA is neck-deep in scandals while the nation is not accepting BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance). The regional leaders will come to centre stage. We are confident they will play a major role,” said Naidu.
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