N. Chandrababu Naidu
Alliance with the Congress Party
#### Alliance with the Congress Party

In an unexpected turn of events, the TDP forged an alliance with the Congress Party for [the 2018 Telangana assembly elections](/wiki/2018_Telangana_Legislative_Assembly_election "2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election"). The alliance, consisting of the Congress, the TDP, and the Communist Party of India (CPI), formed the "Maha Kootami" (grand alliance) with the primary objective of defeating the TRS (now BRS) in the elections. This marked the first time that the TDP, which had been founded on an anti\-Congress platform in 1982, joined hands with the Congress party. During this period, Naidu was advocating for a non\-BJP coalition comprising regional parties with the support of Congress to make a significant impact in the upcoming parliamentary elections. This experiment faced a failure in the Telangana elections with K.Chandrashekar Rao's TRS winning by a big margin. As a result, the TDP and the Congress subsequently parted ways for the [2019 Andhra Pradesh assembly elections](/wiki/2019_Andhra_Pradesh_Legislative_Assembly_election "2019 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election"). The alliance with the Congress and its aftermath left a bitter outcome for Naidu, leading to a considerable erosion of his credibility due to the perceived flip\-flop in alliances.


What are the implications of a flip-flop in alliances on Naidu's leadership?