Narendra Modi and Chandrababu Naidu. PTI

Chandrababu Naidu is caught in a Hamletian dilemma — to be or not to be in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is simmering with discontent over the manner in which Arun Jaitley's 2018 Union Budget treated Andhra Pradesh.

It's holding crucial meetings on Friday and Saturday, yielding speculation in the political circles on the fate of the ruling alliance in the state. Naidu has openly displayed his anger and frustration over the raw deal meted out to the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh despite NDA ruling in both the state and the Centre.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also party to the promises made by Naidu to the people of the truncated state in the run-up to the elections in 2014. In fact, the present finance minister, who was then the Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha, had vociferously defended the interests of the state along with the present vice-president, M Venkaiah Naidu, when the state bifurcation act came up for debate in the House.

Sources close to Naidu feel that Modi is personally suspicious of the chief minister's national political credentials. The electoral trends reveal that Modi's popularity is waning while Rahul Gandhi is yet to fully capitalise on this. This throws up the possibility for a non-BJP and non-Congress leader to compete for the top political post in the country.