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Jana Sena, TDP tie-up may force BJP to go it alone in Andhra polls
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might have to go it alone in the next assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh scheduled early next year, in the wake of its alliance partner Jana Sena Party-led by Tollywood actor Pawan Kalyan hinting at an electoral understanding with Telugu Desam party led by former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, state party leaders have indicated
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might have to go it alone in the next assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh scheduled early next year, in the wake of its alliance partner Jana Sena Party-led by Tollywood actor Pawan Kalyan hinting at an electoral understanding with Telugu Desam party led by former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, state party leaders have indicated.
A senior BJP leader familiar with the development said state BJP president Somu Veerraju will communicate the same to the party’s national leadership during the two-day national office-bearers’ meeting which began in New Delhi on Monday.
“The state BJP has been hoping to replace the TDP as the main opposition and emerge as a strong alternative to the ruling YSR Congress Party by forging an alliance with Jana Sena Party. But with Pawan Kalyan inclining towards the TDP, the BJP will have to grow independently and test its strength by going alone in the next elections,” the BJP leader said.
In the last assembly elections held in 2019, the BJP and Jana Sena fought independently. While the Jana Sena Party had won one assembly seat and secured 5.53% vote share, the BJP drew blank and secured only 0.85% votes, which was much less than 1.28% votes polled under NOTA (none of the above).
Subsequently, the BJP and Jana Sena Party announced that they will contest the next elections together. “With the TDP suffering humiliating defeat in all the local body elections and by-elections to a couple of assembly seat and a Lok Sabha seat, there was a chance for the BJP to grow as a powerful alternative in alliance with the Jana Sena Party, replacing the TDP,” the BJP leader quoted above said.
However, there have hardly been any instances of the BJP and Jana Sena taking up a common programme against the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the state. While Pawan Kalyan has been aggressively attacking the YSRCP government, the BJP has been adopting some sort of softer approach, apparently due to the friendly relations between Jagan and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
Though senior BJP leaders like S Vishnuvardhan Reddy, G V L Narasimha Rao, Satya Kumar and Daggubati Purandeshwari have been criticising policies of the state government, there have hardly been any instances of the party taking up serious agitations against the same.
In March last year, Kalyan declared that he won’t allow any anti-establishment vote to split, which he said was required to defeat the YSRC in the next elections. He said he “will wait for his alliance partner BJP to come out with a road map” in this regard.
Yet, there was no response from the BJP to his call. The BJP leaders made it clear that the party won’t have an alliance with the TDP, even if Kalyan was interested in it. “There is no question of having any kind of understanding with the TDP. We continue to have an alliance only with the Jana Sena,” BJP national secretary in-charge of Andhra affairs Sunil Deodhar said.
After waiting for more than six months, Pawan, in October, declared that he was running out of patience and “cannot wait for the road map from the BJP” but go ahead with his plan of action. “It is time I have to make my own decision,” he announced.
Within an hour of Pawan making the statement, the TDP chief called on him at a hotel in Vijayawada and discussed the strategy to put up a joint fight against the Jagan government. The BJP leadership made an effort to convince the Jana Sena chief to drop the idea of joining hands with the TDP.
“In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Visakhapatnam on November 12, had a one-on-one meeting with Pawan Kalyan and requested him not to take any hasty decisions on alliances but wait till the next elections. Yet, it had no impact on the Jana Sena leaders,” the BJP leader quoted above said.
On January 8 this year, Pawan came to Naidu’s residence in Hyderabad to firm up the talks. Four days later, he announced at a public meeting that he may have to sail with the TDP if there is a respectable agreement on seat sharing.
“Now, the alliance between the TDP and Jana Sena has put a question mark on the fate of the BJP. We are left with no alternative but to fight the elections alone. We need to rework our strategies and make efforts to grow on our own,” the BJP leader said.
Political analyst Sriram Karri said the BJP is left with a Hobson’s choice in Andhra Pradesh. “It may have to join the YSRC as a junior partner in the state and get some seats, or contest alone, hoping it would be a foundation for future growth,” he said.
He pointed out that the BJP had taken a strong principled stance of not ever wanting to enter into any alliance with the TDP which had ditched it twice, once after 2004 elections, and once again, before the 2019 polls.
“The BJP may eventually go alone, hoping to build some traction as an alternative in the opposition space for the long run,” he added.’
