Naming PM nominees won`t improve Cong, BJP`s poll chances: TDP

Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday claimed the fortunes of both Congress and BJP will not improve even if they name Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi as their respective prime ministerial candidates in the next general elections. "The Congress is diminishing and the BJP is not picking up. I don`t think their prospects will improve by naming Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi as their respective Prime Ministerial candidates. In fact, there are many states where these two parties don`t even have their presence," Chandrababu told a news agency here this evening. The regional parties, that are strong in many states, will ultimately secure majority in their respective states and eventually decide which combination gets to rule the country, he noted. "Both the Congress and the BJP don`t have proper (party) infrastructure in many states. There, only the regional parties are very effective. Whatever be the party, the regional parties are more and more strengthening themselves," the former Chief Minister observed. "Some political parties are in some compulsions. In some places, there are parties that are opposed to the Congress and in some places to the BJP. In some places, there are only regional parties, plus the Communists. There are many such combinations. Ultimately, the situation is that only the regional parties can secure majority," the TDP chief said. He did not agree with the contention that national interests were getting compromised due to the dominance of regional parties. "What was the great national interest protected by the Congress, which did not happen in other governments? The United Front government, too, implemented economic reforms initiated by the Congress," he said. PTI