POLITICAL SCOOP: After SP-BSP snub, more ally trouble for Rahul Gandhi; TDP leaders advice Chandrababu Naidu against forming an alliance with Congress

With just a few months left for the much-awaited Lok Sabha polls, trouble for the Congress party only seems to increase. After being snubbed by the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in UP, with the two arch-rivals joining hands, Rahul Gandhi looks set to be sidelined by yet another ally.

Sources have told Republic TV that a number of leaders of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) have adviced party chief and Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu against joining hands with the Congress party for the upcoming elections. It is reported that as many as four senior party leaders have threatened to quit the party should Naidu go ahead with an alliance with Rahul Gandhi.

It was late in 2018, months before the the five-state polls, that N Chandrababu Naidu took the charge and met with a number of leaders to form an United Front to fight BJP and PM Modi in 2019 polls.

Back then, the Andhra Pradesh CM also met Rahul Gandhi openly advocated his desire to work along with the Congress party to dethrone BJP from power at the Centre. TDP and Congress even fought the upcoming Telangana elections together. 

But, the speculation of problems between the two parties arose following their poor showing in the Telangana state elections. Following the poll results, in which they won a total of 21 seats together, leaders from both the parties shifted blame on each other, signalling a rift within the alliance.

READ: MASSIVE: Mayawati-Akhilesh Reject Rahul Gandhi; Here's Why They Say They're Not Including Congress In Their Gathbandhan

This will be a second massive jolt for the Congress party in 2019. Just a few days back, foes turned friends in Uttar Pradesh as SP and BSP confirmed a pre-poll alliance for the upcoming elections, but decided to reject Rahul Gandhi and his party.

"We have not included Congress despite knowing that since independence, Congress has only ruled for a long time. Farmers and different sections of society have suffered, corruption was at a high. Congress coming to power and BJP coming to power is tantamount to the same. Both parties have been complicit in Defence scams. First Bofors cost the Congress party its government and now, BJP will suffer a similar fate because of the Rafale scam. Votes don't transfer when allying with Congress, they go to BJP instead, hence we're not including it in our alliance," Mayawati said while confirming that Congress wasn't part of the gathbandhan in UP.