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New state chief pick comes as surprise for BJP’s unit in Andhra
An Andhra BJP leader requesting anonymity said, that the appointment of Purandeswari came as a big surprise, at a time when the party was facing a crisis in Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad
The appointment of former Union minister and BJP national general secretary Daggubati Purandeswari as the party’s Andhra Pradesh unit president, evoked a lot of surprise among the party leaders.
Purandeswari has replaced Somu Veerraju, who had been holding the post since July 2020.
An Andhra BJP leader requesting anonymity said, that the appointment of Purandeswari came as a big surprise, at a time when the party was facing a crisis in Andhra Pradesh.
“There was a talk in the party till Tuesday afternoon that Veerraju would be replaced by another stronger leader like Y Satya Kumar. But all of sudden, the high command announced Purandeshwari’s name,” he said.
The BJP, which had won four assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh in 2014 elections in alliance with the Telugu Desam Party, was reduced to a virtual non-entity in 2019 elections, after both the parties parted ways. The BJP drew a total blank in both the assembly and Lok Sabha elections, securing only 0.85% votes, much less than 1.28% votes polled under NOTA (none of the above).
After Veerraju took over as the state BJP chief, the party entered into an alliance with the Jana Sena Party headed by popular actor. With the main opposition Telugu Desam Party being in a bad shape, the BJP was hoping to emerge as a strong alternative to the ruling YSR Congress party with the support of Jana Sena.
However, for the last few months, Pawan Kalyan has been favouring an alliance with the TDP, which has regained its lost ground to a large extent in the state. The actor proposed to the BJP to be part of the alliance, so as to prevent the split of the anti-establishment vote in 2024 elections.
Even the TDP has been sending feelers to the BJP for restoring its ties, but the state BJP leadership was not interested. In fact, Veerraju categorically said several times that there was no question of any alliance with the TDP. “He had been hand-in-glove with the YSR Congress party and was making statements supporting Jagan Mohan Reddy, against whom Pawan Kalyan has been fighting all these days,” TDP official spokesman Kommareddy Pattabhi alleged.
Under these circumstances, the high command replacing Veerraju with Purandeshwari is expected to change the political equations in the state. “It doesn’t matter much for the TDP politically. But we hope Purandeshwari will take an aggressive stand against the YSRC government and that would definitely consolidate the anti-establishment vote,” Pattabhi said.
As regards a possible alliance between the TDP and the BJP ahead of the elections, the TDP spokesman said it had not been thought of as yet. “In any case, such decisions are taken at the national level, irrespective of who is at the helm in Andhra BJP,” he said.
The Jana Sena Party, too, reacted cautiously to the appointment of Purandeshwari as the new BJP chief of Andhra. While congratulating her, Pawan Kalyan said in a statement on Wednesday that with her past experience as the Union minister, she would succeed in her new assignment. “I request her to strive for the protection of state interests,” he said.
Jana Sena Party spokesman P Hariprasad said there would be no change in the political equations in the state with Purandeshwari’s appointment. “We put forth a proposal before the national BJP on how to prevent the split of the anti-establishment vote. It is for the Central leaders to decide, not Purandeshwari or Veerraju,” he said.
Purandeshwari is the second daughter of legendary Telugu actor and former chief minister late N T Rama Rao, is the sister-in-law of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu. “Perhaps, she was given the reins in a bid to get some support from the TDP either openly or covertly in the 2024 polls,” sources said.
