New Delhi: An intricate game of political chess is underway in Andhra Pradesh, where the BJP is trying to balance its rapport with the Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP on the national stage while also launching strategic offensives at the state level.
Simultaneously, the BJP, currently in alliance with actor Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party, is exploring ties with the opposition Telugu Desam Party, potentially forming a tripartite alliance against Jagan in next year’s state elections. But it’s stopping short of committing.
“We have maintained an equal distance from both YSRCP and TDP in the past. Jagan supports us in floor coordination in Parliament, but in the state, we are fighting against him. Now the situation is warming up with the TDP, but we still have time to finalise an alliance,” said a senior Andhra Pradesh BJP leader, speaking to ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
Jagan, who has had a cordial relationship with Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah, has lent the support of the YSRCP for several bills in Parliament, including the Delhi services bill passed by the Rajya Sabha earlier this month.
However, despite this friendly equation, Jagan is now facing attacks in Andhra Pradesh from the newly appointed BJP state president and former Union minister D. Purandeswari— who happens to be the daughter of late TDP patriarch NT Rama Rao (NTR) and the sister-in-law of Jagan’s bitter rival, Chandrababu Naidu.
Not just this, the TDP and BJP have been speaking in one voice of late even though they are not officially in an alliance.
This has been especially evident in criticism unleashed by the BJP and TDP over certain controversial appointments to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) board, an independent trust that manages the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, one of the richest temples in India.
Nevertheless, despite its apparent friction with the YSRCP and thawing relations with the TDP, the BJP appears to be riding two horses in Andhra Pradesh for now when it comes to a potential alliance.
Also Read: Political realignment in Andhra? What’s behind BJP’s attack on ‘friendly’ Jagan govt, talks with TDP
Row over TTD board
This week, Jagan Mohan Reddy appointed 24 members to the newly constituted TTD board, a highly sought-after position in Andhra Pradesh.
The choice of appointees resulted in an immediate attack from state BJP chief Purandeswari.
Taking to Twitter, she said that Jagan had turned the TTD trust board into a “political rehabilitation centre” by appointing members such as P Sarath Reddy, who was allegedly involved in the Delhi “liquor scam”, and Ketan Desai, a former president of the Medical Council of India, who was removed from the position after allegations of corruption.
Once again AP CM has proven that TTD Board is but a political Rehabilitation centre. To nominate to the Board people like Sarat Chandra Reddy, who was involved in the liquor scam in Delhi and Ketan Desai, who was found to be corrupt and dismissed from the MCI by the High Court of… pic.twitter.com/4BCFEycsEW
— Daggubati Purandeswari 🇮🇳 (@PurandeswariBJP) August 26, 2023
Meanwhile, the TDP also lambasted the Andhra government over these appointments, claiming that more than 25 percent of the new TTD board members belong to the same community as Jagan Mohan Reddy. Much like Purandeswari, TDP leaders are complaining that Jagan does not value the “sanctity” of the board.
“Jagan’s government is mishandling Hindu religious places, compromising their sanctity. How can corrupt members be appointed to a board where religious faith and sanctity are of utmost importance?” a TDP spokesperson told ThePrint.
In response, sources in the YSRCP said that these appointments were made after due consultations, and a few BJP leaders were also made members of the board.
These include S. Shankar, a BJP leader from Tamil Nadu and a close aide of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Sources further claimed that some members were also appointed at the instructions of the central government, including advocate Krishnamurthi Vaidyanathan, Shiv Sena leader Milind Narvekar, and Karnataka BJP MLA SR Viswanath.
Significantly, the BJP and TDP launched simultaneous and similar attacks on Jagan in the first week of August too, when YSRCP MLA Karunakar Reddy Bhumana was appointed as the chairman of the TTD board, replacing YV Subba Reddy, who had completed his term.
Purandeswari had argued Karunakar leaned towards Christianity. “Only someone who believes in Hindu dharma should be appointed to this post. It’s unfortunate to use a temple position for political gains,” she said
The TDP has also chimed in with similar allegations. “We have evidence to prove that Bhumana has Christian connections. How can he be made TTD chief when he has no faith in Hinduism?” TDP state secretary Buchi Ram Prasad told ThePrint.
“It’s another fact that he has been appointed as chairman of TTD for the second time, the first time being during Jagan’s father Rajasekhara Reddy tenure as chief minister from 2006 to 2008,” he added.
Heat for Jagan
Shortly after taking office as Andhra BJP president in July, Purandeswari has criticised the YSRCP government on various issues. She expressed her dissatisfaction with the delay in constructing the Polavaram irrigation project and suggested that if Jagan couldn’t handle it properly, he should hand it over to the central government.
On 17 July, while addressing party workers in Vijayawada, she also reportedly accused Jagan of borrowing more than Rs 7 lakh crore and exploiting people for the benefit of the liquor and the mining mafia. She also questioned his inability to maintain law and order in the state.
Even the BJP high command has been turning up the heat on Jagan of late.
In June, shortly after a meeting with TDP’s Naidu in New Delhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah gave a public speech in Andhra Pradesh where he referred to the Jagan government as being riddled with corruption, claiming the misuse of central funds.
BJP president JP Nadda also hit out at the Jagan government during his visit to the state that month, accusing it of allowing lawlessness to prevail.
This barrage of criticism immediately led to speculation that the BJP was setting the tone for the Lok Sabha campaign and aligning with the TDP.
On his part, Jagan on 12 June said at an event that the YSRCP might not have the support of the BJP in the 2024 elections and would fight alone.
Warmth for TDP
The BJP’s growing camaraderie with the TDP is not just limited to attacking Jagan Mohan Reddy. The BJP is also making deliberate efforts to align itself with the legacy of NTR in order to grow its own political base in Andhra Pradesh, where it drew a blank in both the 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
The issuance of a special commemorative coin on NTR— released by President Droupadi Murmu on 28 August— and the invitation extended to the NTR family to attend the ceremony are seen as moves by the BJP to assert its claim on NTR’s legacy. Purandeswari reportedly played a key role in organising these celebrations and inviting Naidu.
During the event at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Chandrababu Naidu interacted with JP Nadda, sparking speculation in the state’s political circles. Whether this signals that a formal rapprochement is on the cards is open to debate.
The BJP and TDP have had on-and-off ties over the years. The two parties had jointly contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 but went separate ways in 2018 when Naidu exited the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) while demanding special category status for Andhra Pradesh.
So far, though, the BJP has remained hesitant about hitching its wagon to the TDP.
Walking a tightrope
Despite warming up to the TDP, the BJP has not closed the door on the YRCP, keeping both parties guessing.
BJP sources said that it is currently important to maintain both the YSRCP and the TDP as friendly parties in Parliament. Out of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, the YSRCP won 22 and the TDP three.
The senior BJP leader quoted earlier said that the YRCP’s support is needed in passing legislation in the Rajya Sabha, where the government lacks a majority.
“We must ensure that the government’s legislative agenda doesn’t suffer. There are still many important bills to be discussed in the winter session, and any alliance can take place afterward. There is still time to consider it for the Lok Sabha polls,” he added.
Meanwhile, YRCP’s compulsion lies in receiving central support in funding. In May, the central government released Rs 10,460 crore, the largest tranche of funds to Andhra Pradesh, as compensation for the revenue deficit caused by the carving out of Telangana in 2014. In June, the Jagan government also announced that the central government had agreed to sanction Rs 12,911 crore for the Polavaram project.
For now, however, the YSRCP has ruled out an alliance with the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh. In a meeting with the Prime Minister on July 5, Jagan reportedly conveyed the party’s decision to oppose the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill if the central government intended to bring it.
In the case of the TDP, the BJP started warming up to Naidu after his meeting with Amit Shah on 4 June to discuss a tripartite alliance against the YSRCP.
But though BJP ally JSP is in favour of such an alliance, reportedly proposing it during the NDA meeting on 18 July, the BJP seems to be in no hurry.
Andhra BJP co-incharge Sunil Deodhar told The Print: “We have an alliance with Pawan Kalyan’s party JSP, and we are making every effort to strengthen the BJP organisation in the state to win the Lok Sabha election with our NDA partner. Any decision to form an alliance with the TDP will be made by the BJP high command.”
A former Andhra BJP party president said that an alliance with the TDP was the “only way to make a mark” in the state’s politics, but acknowledged that losing the support of the YSRCP in Parliament could be too heavy a cost.
“The BJP received less than one percent of the vote in Andhra in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, but it’s also true that the Centre will conduct a cost-benefit analysis before moving forward with the TDP, considering the cost of losing the support of 22 MPs in Parliament and the chance of winning a few seats with a TDP alliance,” he said.
The leader said that the BJP doesn’t foresee significant prospects in Andhra Pradesh, and all future party strategies will be geared towards the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“If the BJP’s numbers decline in the next election, the support of the YSRCP will become more crucial, especially as the TDP is not gaining much ground,” he added. “The YSRCP has a higher chance of returning to power, which is limiting the BJP’s advances towards the TDP and leaving them more inclined to support the YSRCP.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)