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Andhra BJP divided on tie upwith TDP ahead of elections
The BJP has already been in alliance with Jana Sena Party which is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Andhra Pradesh is in a quandary on whether or not to join hands with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which has entered into an alliance with the Jana Sena Party headed by renowned actor Pawan Kalyan for the upcoming assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state, people familiar with the matter said.
At a meeting convened by the BJP central core committee headed by its national secretary (organisation) Shiv Prakash with the state BJP leaders at Vijayawada on Thursday, there was a mixed opinion on the party’s strategy in the elections – whether to go it alone or join the TDP-Jana Sena alliance.
The BJP has already been in alliance with Jana Sena Party which is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). But it is not keen on restoring the alliance with the TDP, which has parted ways from the saffron party in March 2018 itself and came out of the NDA on the pretext of injustice meted out to AP during the Narendra Modi government.
In September this year, Pawan Kalyan announced that his party would forge an alliance with the TDP and both the parties would fight the elections together. He appealed to the BJP to take a decision on joining the alliance in order to prevent the split of anti-establishment vote.
As the time is running out for the elections which are just two months away, both the TDP and Jana Sena began the seat-sharing negotiations, forcing the state BJP leaders to take a decision on whether or not join the alliance.
On Thursday, Jana Sena political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar met BJP state president Daggubati Purandeshwari, seeking a quick decision from the BJP on the alliance. He also met BJP national general secretary (organisation) Shiv Prakash, who convened the BJP core committee meeting to discuss the issue.
“Nadendla also discussed the alliance issue with him and it is for the BJP central leadership to take a call on the alliances,” Purandeshwari said.
A party leader privy to the development said Shiv Prakash and the other core committee members gathered the opinions of the state party leaders on joining the TDP-Jana Sena alliance.
“There was a mixed opinion from the party leaders. Some of the senior leaders vehemently opposed the idea of BJP joining hands with the TDP, which had betrayed the coalition dharma in 2018 and walked out from the NDA,” the party leader quoted above said.
This section of BJP leaders is of the view that there is no need for the party to run after the regional parties but can wait to strengthen itself as an independent force in Andhra Pradesh and grow independently in the coming days.
However, another section of the BJP leaders expressed the view that the party can win a few assembly and a couple of Lok Sabha seats if it joins the TDP-Jana Sena alliance that would help the party at the national level. “The BJP had won a few seats only when it had an alliance with TDP in the past. In 2019, the party went alone in the elections and won only 0.89% of votes and lost deposits in all the 173 out of 175 assembly seats it contested,” the party leader quoted above said.
Shiv Prakash reportedly asked the state BJP leaders to submit their views in writing and route it through the state party, so that the national BJP will take a call on the future strategies.
BJP national secretary Satya Kumar told reporters that the central leadership of the party would take a decision on the alliances in a week or two. “In any case, the request for joining the TDP-Jana Sena Party alliance has come from Pawan Kalyan and not the TDP. Let the other party also make a request, we shall see,” he said.
A TDP senior leader familiar with the development said though party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is keen on joining hands with the BJP, his son and general secretary Nara Lokesh is not interested.
“Apparently, Lokesh is of the view that it hardly matters for the TDP-Jana Sena alliance whether the BJP joins it or not, as the saffron party has hardly any strength in Andhra Pradesh. Secondly, entering into a direct pact with the saffron party will alienate the TDP from minorities,” he said.
Thirdly, the TDP will have to share some of its assembly and Lok Sabha seats with the BJP. Already, it is sharing a good number of seats with Jana Sena and if the BJP enters the alliance, it might have to sacrifice some more seats and it will create more problems within the party, the TDP leader quoted above said.
