Has the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finally made up its mind and is ready to end its intriguing ‘alliance’ with Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena in Andhra Pradesh? And hence, sending subtle indications to this effect?
The national party’s latest approach with regard to Andhra Pradesh gives rise to these speculations. A few developments in the last one week sparked off a discussion at informal levels that the saffron party would be going solo in the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh. This, if taken seriously, would mean snapping its so-called alliance with Jana Sena and continue to maintain a safe distance from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). And treat both of them like any of its other political opponents in the elections.
The other day, the Andhra Pradesh unit of the BJP announced its grand plans for the AP elections with the release of a poster. It screamed with the headline, “Andhra lo okkasaari, kendram lo marokkasaari”, meaning, “One chance in AP and one more chance at the Centre”. At its bottom, the poster carried the images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the face of the party across the country, BJP National President J P Nadda and party’s AP chief Purandheswari.
What caught everyone’s eye was the conspicuous omission of the image of Pawan Kalyan, the BJP’s alliance partner in the state. Also, a glaring gap between the images of JP Nadda and Purandheswari triggered the talk that Pawan Kalyan’s image was originally inserted there but was delated later, in what could be a subtle messaging about the national party’s disillusion with Jana Sena. There was another theory of speculation that the PK’s image was removed from the poster design after his much-talked-about trip to Delhi was cancelled.
The social media pundits linked this to a change in BJP’s approach to keep Pawan Kalyan at bay. According to them, the BJP is beginning to move away from the fledgling party after carefully assessing the pros and cons of this option. This scenario, as per the speculations, was prompted by Pawan Kalyan’s strong and increasing alignment with Chandrababu Naidu and his TDP. A section of the AP BJP leaders is reportedly upset with Pawan Kalyan for his utter disregard for the national party while announcing his alliance with the TDP when Chandrababu Naidu was in prison.
There is nothing new in this as the actor-turned-politician has been honeymooning with the TDP for years now and he is always accused of using Jana Sena as a front only to promote the TDP’s cause. Interestingly, the BJP leaders in AP never publicly questioned or criticised Pawan Kalyan for his heavy leaning towards the TDP. In fact, they kept maintaining that the BJP-Jana Sena alliance is in tact and any decision with regard to their electoral arrangements would be taken by their party’s central leadership.
The Central leadership certainly seems to be acting now with the elections round the corner, if the emerging indications are any indication. A few days before the poster release, the BJP has taken up the task to identify potential candidates across the state for the ensuing elections. Also, a rigorous exercise was initiated to receive applications from aspirants for both Assembly and Lok Sabha seats. It is said that the party had received a little more than 2,000 applications for tickets.
Some contend that this exercise effectively removed the alliance option out of the equation and states the obvious; that the BJP is preparing to go it alone in Andhra Pradesh elections. There is also a strong section of leaders in the state BJP who envision brighter prospects for the party if it goes to polls in alliance with the TDP and Jana Sena. But, that aspiration did not appear to have cut much ice with the central leadership which is more concerned about a few critical aspects.
Most importantly, the BJP central leadership is not in a position to invest its trust in Chandrababu Naidu, having already tasted his betrayals one too many in the past after being in alliance. There is suspicion that the TDP chief is also looking to cozy up to the opposition I.N.D.I.A combine and hence keeping the Congress in good humour. Knowing his deftness in switching sides, the BJP central leadership is circumspect in weighing the TDP option.
The Sharmila factor is also believed to be playing on the BJP’s mind as the ruling party at the Centre is in no mood to allow its arch rival Congress strengthen its vote share, even by miniscule proportions. This becoming the priority, the BJP is speculated to be seriously contemplating on a solo fight with long-term objectives. Since, the party has no big expectations on its electoral gains from Andhra Pradesh in 2024, it may prefer to be in the fray as an independent contender this time and hope to emerge as a strong contender by 2029. According to these speculative theories, the key to this plan of BJP is the decimation of the TDP and the saffron party is hoping to see that happen in the form of a second straight defeat handed out to Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh.