Chandrababu Naidu is back in the national headlines – and how!

Naidu in the news

And yes, Naidu is now back in the national limelight, reminiscent of the coalition politics of the 1990s, when he played the role of kingmaker in forming both the United Front and NDA governments at the Centre.

Following a fractured mandate in 1996, as convener of the United Front, Naidu helped bring together parties not aligned with either the Congress or the BJP and put together the H.D. Deve Gowda government with outside support from the Congress.

In 1999, his party contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BJP and supported the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, which fell short of a majority. Even with just 29 seats, the TDP was the biggest ally of the BJP at that time.

In 2014 too, Naidu had contested the elections in alliance with the BJP and joined the Modi government – but ahead of the 2018 assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, he quit the alliance in protest against the Centre’s refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

And now, once again, the 2024 Lok Sabha mandate presents an opportunity for him to play the role of kingmaker and usher in the revival of his party, which has suffered severe setbacks in the last few years.

However, this leaves the fate of the entire nation hanging in the balance, which is why history will remember his next decision.