PM's man in Madras

This morning, Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao met President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, to discuss the political disarray in the state. Rao is leaving for Chennai tomorrow and will be staying there for three days, on instructions from the Centre.

This morning, the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly P Dhanapal, called up Governor Rao and informed him of the disqualification of the 18 MLAs loyal to the Dinakaran camp. As per protocol, the governor should be informed ahead of the media.

Governor Rao and Venkaiah Naidu are close friends, and their meeting was private, but it is believed that they did discuss Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu politics.

While many may not admit to it, Naidu is one of the key figures who 'saved' the Tamil Nadu government from the clutches of Sasikala. Naidu has been a close political observer of Tamil Nadu and had in fact monitored the funeral arrangements for the state's former CM J Jayalalithaa.

Ever since, many political leaders of the AIADMK have begun to meet him. The other bonus of course, is that Venkaiah Naidu speaks Tamil and understands the internal dynamism of the AIADMK functioning. Consequently, Narendra Modi has come to depends on Naidu's briefings on the AIADMK and Tamil Nadu.


R Rajagopalan in New Delhi