Will Modi side with Naidu?

Chandrababu Naidu, in his one-on-one interactions with Prime Minister and BJP President Amit Shah, is said to have sought to convince them to cajole the Telangana government into submission and "let the issue of cash-for-vote go by”

Will the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, intervene in the gravest dispute thus far, between the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the cash-for-vote sting or will he advise both to exercise restraint and tolerance and be more reciprocal in dealing with each other?

The official word is not out yet. When it does, it could be that Modi's judgement might be tempered with his party's view to some extent in shaping his next move. The general opinion here is that the issue should not have become an ego clash and, instead, should have been allowed to remain what it is a legal case.

If those presenting their case to the Centre from the States had been armed with their own arguments, the PMO, too, is not lagging behind and instead is "one step ahead" in separating the chaff from the grain in the legal arguments. After all, it has equipped itself with far greater information from its own sources and also from the Union Home Ministry. The Home Ministry officials have placed all information in this regard, at the disposal of the PMO, as soon as the Prime Minister landed back in New Delhi from Bangladesh, it is learnt.

Call it a cash-for-vote case as the Telangana government argues, or call it a "telephone tapping" case as is preferred by the Andhra Pradesh Government, what is being tested now really is the patience of the Centre. A plethora of complaints has already reached New Delhi over several issues right from employee’s bifurcation to division of offices and institutions and on the law and order issue of Hyderabad.

The Telugu governments have been at loggerheads over every possible issue in the last one year, seeking Centre's intervention in resolving the same. In fact, the very AP Reorganization Act, 2014, has been contested with the AP government seeking greater law and order powers to the Governor in Hyderabad, the joint capital of the two States for 10 years.

The latest controversy in this bout is perhaps the most serious of all the confrontations with cases filed against the very Chief Ministers by the rival governments. Coming to the Centre, particularly the Union Home Ministry, which has been hearing those two arguments always, this is for the first time that the Governor's viewpoint came in handy for both the Ministry and the PMO in shaping its opinion.

The Telangana government has so far been maintaining that no telephone tapping has taken place and it was the nominated MLA Stephenson's phone which recorded the conversation of Revanth Reddy and the former. The AP government has been alleging that its Chief Minister's phone had been tapped. The argument, however, becomes unmindful of the fact that it is tantamount to admitting that a certain conversation has taken place.

The TDP suspects that the view of the Governor, E S L Narasimhan, was contradictory to its own theory. Sources reveal that Narasimhan's report was more categorical in presenting a 'matter of fact report.’ Meanwhile, Chandrababu Naidu, in his one-on-one interactions with Prime Minister and BJP President Amit Shah, was said to have sought to convince them to cajole the Telangana government into submission and "let the issue of cash-for-vote go by.”

Though it is to be seen whether the demand of Naidu for issuing guidelines to the Governor will be conceded, it is becoming clearer that the BJP itself is not that keen to bestow any undue favours on AP. It is of the view that any overt intervention would lead to collateral damage for itself politically and, hence, it is said to be advising caution. Whether, Naidu's well-wishers in the Union Cabinet would alter PM's opinion despite party's line is to be seen now?

By W Chandrakanth