New friends

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership is busy making new friends in J Jayalalithaa-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and YSR Congress, led by YS Jaganmohan Reddy. The BJP and Shiv Sena could go in different directions in the run-up to the Mumbai civic polls next year, while Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who leads the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), is reportedly upset at not being given his due despite his being one of the earliest regional parties to have supported Narendra Modi. The BJP could use YSR Congress as a counterweight to the TDP. Any loss of support from Shiv Sena and TDP in the Lok Sabha, and particularly in the Rajya Sabha where the government is in a minority, could be compensated by inducting AIADMK in the National Democratic Alliance. The BJP is working on the possibility to accommodate AIADMK, which has a dozen MPs and is the third largest party in the Lok Sabha, in the union cabinet.