Hyderabad: The breaking of bread between the BJP and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Port Blair has sent ripples in the political circles of Andhra Pradesh, considering how the chances of their rapprochement in the erstwhile southern state are clearly dim. has been denying
The development comes at a time when Pawan Kalyan, chief of the Janasena Party (JSP), an ally of the BJP in Andhra, has expressed his disquiet over the rapprochement between the two parties.
Elections to the 175-member Andhra Assembly are due next year.
TDP’s S Selvi was on Tuesday elected as the chairman of the Port Blair Municipal Council in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and will hold the post for a term of next two years. Selvi’s appointment comes as part of the BJP and TDP’s power-sharing deal during the council elections in 2022. The BJP held the seat for the first one year and would return for the remaining two years of the council’s term.
In the elections held for the 24 wards of the Port Blair Municipal Council, the BJP won 10 seats, while the Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) alliance won 11 seats and one seat was won by an independent candidate. TDP emerged as the kingmaker with two seats and decided to extend support to BJP. The parties agreed to share the seat of the Speaker.
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and BJP National President JP Nadda expressed satisfaction over the partnership.
“Congratulations to TDP’s Smt. On S Selvi being elected as the chairman of the Port Blair Municipal Council in alliance with the BJP. His appointment is a reflection of people’s faith in the alliance as a harbinger of progress. I wish him a successful tenure in the service of the people Tweeted Tuesday
Andaman and Nicobar TDP president Manikya Rao Yadav told ThePrint on Tuesday that the party will continue to support the BJP and is ready to support them in their fight for the lone MP seat in Andaman, which is currently held by Kuldeep Rai Sharma of the Congress. is near.
“Congratulations to the BJP-TDP alliance on this impressive victory in the Port Blair Municipal Council elections. Your hard work and dedication for the people of Port Blair has paid off and this victory is a testimony to the faith people have in the PM @Narendra Modi ji’s vision,” Nadda had Tweeted Tuesday
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Andhra Puzzle
The top leaders’ satisfaction over the BJP-TDP alliance in Port Blair comes at a time when actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan-led BJP’s alliance partner Jana Sena Party (JSP) in Andhra Pradesh is “ready to go it alone”. In the state elections of 2024, the puzzle of the opposition alliance in the state has increased.
Kalyan points to growing differences with BJP Said Said on Tuesday that he would not hesitate to walk out of the alliance with the party, adding that he would not be made a scapegoat for the 2024 polls.
“If the state leadership of BJP had worked with JSP as per my expectation, TDP would not have been in the picture. I have no extra love for TDP. I have respect only for Chandrababu Naidu, for his ability The New Indian Express,
So, what is the scene with the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh?
The state government is currently headed by YSRCP led by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. There are four opposition parties in the state: TDP, BJP, Congress and JSP. Both jsp and tdp have Time and again made it clear that they do not want to divide the anti-YSRCP vote.
JSP has one legislative member from Razole constituency – Rapaka Vara Prasad Rao – who had unofficial Aligned himself with the ruling YSRCP party. Both the BJP and the Congress do not have a single seat in the assembly. TDP has 19 functional MLAs in the state assembly. The party had won 23 assembly seats in 2019, but four of its MLAs joined the YSRCP without officially joining the party. The move to informally align with the YSRCP is to avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law.
JSP chief Pawan Kalyan himself has had an unsuccessful journey so far. He lost both the seats Contested election In 2019.
Over the past few months, Naidu and Kalyan’s meetings have given rise to speculation rising bonhomie And a possible alliance between them. But, JSP is in alliance with BJP for more than two years.
While there was no concrete discussion on an alliance in the meetings, senior TDP leaders had told ThePrint in January that Kalyan was keen to work with their party. TDP leaders also said that their party has no major objection to working with the BJP.
While the latest move by Naidu and Nadda hailing an alliance in Port Blair may seem like their parties have extended olive branches to each other after their fallout in 2018, any possibility of a partnership in Andhra Pradesh is under consideration. It is too early to do that, leaders of both the parties told ThePrint on Tuesday.
Parties that fought Lok Sabha polls together in 2014 split in 2018 after Naidu went out National Democratic Alliance (NDA) demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh.
However, the BJP is against the idea of working with Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP in the state, at least for now.
State BJP leader Vishnu Vardhan Reddy told ThePrint on Tuesday, “We have had bad experiences with Naidu in the past and we do not want it to happen again. The central leadership of BJP has made it absolutely clear. The relations between the parties in the Andaman Municipality will not reflect anything back in Andhra Pradesh, it works in a completely different way here.”
In 2021, Kalyan alleged that the BJP He was barred from contesting the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Elections in Telangana. Speaking to ThePrint a few months ago, Reddy had said that the party had also told Kalyan that he would have to choose between the TDP and the BJP.
Meanwhile, if a Naidu-Kalyan alliance happens, it will be a powerful ‘Kamma-Kapu’ alliance. Naidu comes from the socially dominant Kamma community and the group runs after him. However, the same cannot be said for Kalyan, who is the Kapu leader. The Kapu community – which accounts for about 24 per cent of Andhra’s population as per the last census – has always been split when it comes to supporting any one party.
(Editing by Anumeha Saxena)
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