Amaravathi: In wake of rude shock given by exit polls, TDP supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is making last-ditch efforts to forge oppositional unity at the Centre and save his face in the event of impending defeat in Andhra Pradesh. But it appears clearly that these efforts are also coming to a nought. After DMK chief M K Stalin’s snub to Naidu on Monday, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy also turned down his invitation to attend the opposition meeting in the national capital.

The Karnataka Chief Minister’s Office on Tuesday morning issued a statement confirming that Kumaraswamy would not attend the scheduled meeting of opposition parties organised at the insistence of Naidu. With fissures emerging in JD(S) – Congress coalition in Karnataka, the JD(S) may well snap ties with Congress in the event of BJP-led NDA returns to power at the Centre. Given this scenario, Kumaraswamy much like M K Stalin believes that UPA – III that is being harped on by Chandrababu Naidu is absolute non-starter.

Naidu, who is aware of the writing on the wall of the ensuing YSR Congress Party government in Andhra Pradesh, has been making every possible effort to bring together regional parties and the Congress at the Centre in response to BJP. He has been persistent in his pursuit much before the results as once EVMs are opened and votes are counted, his political worth in the national capital would be reduced to nothing.

Having realised that his party would flounder in a big way in the State, regional leaders across the country are giving cold shoulder to Naidu. Besides DMK’s Stalin and JD (S)’ Kumaraswamy, Mayawati also opted out of the meeting. As the counting day closing in, Naidu is being shunned by political leaders from across the country realising that the oppositional unity he is professing is nothing but a ploy to find a refuge for him post declaration of results.

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