With BJP falling short of majority, Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu return as kingmakers

After 27 years, as the election results poured in on Tuesday, it became clear that Naidu, now 74, is back in his old avatar – of being the kingmaker. TDP has emerged the second-largest party in the NDA with 16 LS seats and cornered 134 of 175 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. Result: BJP needs Naidu’s support at the Centre, but he does not need them in the state. He is a kingmaker now.