When Chandrababu Naidu was chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, he could not get an appointment with the Prime minister for a one-on-one meeting for a year in 2017. What angered Naidu more was his bete noire, Jaganmohan Reddy managed to get an audience with Narendra Modi while Naidu, despite being a NDA partner, was kept waiting.

The shoe is now on the other foot. Jagan as chief minister wanted to meet Union Home minister and BJP president Amit Shah in September but the appointment did not materialise. He managed to meet the PM in the first week of October but could not get Shah’s time. 

Finally he was given time on 21 October. Jagan reached Delhi by 1 pm and the impression given was that he would meet a host of Union ministers soon after. But Shah did not meet the Andhra Pradesh CM on Monday, with his office citing preoccupation with monitoring the voting taking place in Haryana and Maharashtra. But he took out time to meet Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath and Nizamabad MP D Arvind on Monday evening. 

The Home minister finally met Jagan at 11am on Tuesday at 11 am. But it was not the best day to get sufficient time with the Home minister as it was Shah’s birthday and he had to meet a steady stream of visitors.

The TDP alleges that the Delhi visit is linked to Jagan’s petition pleading exemption from personal appearances in the CBI court in the disproportionate assets cases in which he is the prime accused. 

Government sources however say, the agenda was entirely official with discussions over Andhra Pradesh’s financial position, demanding Special Category status for the state, the Polavaram irrigation project and other pending issues relating to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.