Radical changes ahead, BJP to go on offensive to rise to power in AP,  TS

Decision to elevate Venkaiah Naidu is seen as a strategy to hit two birds with one stone 
NDA's vice-presidential nominee Venkaiah Naidu on his way to attend nomination filing procession at Parliament in New Delhi on Tuesday. (PTI)
NDA's vice-presidential nominee Venkaiah Naidu on his way to attend nomination filing procession at Parliament in New Delhi on Tuesday. (PTI)

HYDERABAD: The BJP central leadership’s move to nominate veteran politico and Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu as NDA’s vice-presidential candidate is being inferred by many in the party in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as a pointer to radical changes that are likely to be made to the party’s agenda to realise its long-cherished dream of capturing the Telugu land.

The decision to elevate Naidu, its heavyweight in the two Telugu-speaking states, to the nation’s second-highest constitutional post is seen as a strategy to hit two birds with one stone. 
The first aim is already clear that the leadership wants to use the services of the warhorse in the capacity of Rajya Sabha chairman to ensure passage of some key bills in the Upper House where the NDA does not have majority. As far as the second aim is concerned, BJP in the two Telugu states will make aggressive moves to expand its base with an eye on 2019 elections, party seniors predict.


“This step is a clear indication that our central leadership is revising its agenda for AP and TS. Telangana is our first target to come to power by decimating the Congress,  a national party whereas AP is our second target as we have an alliance with the TDP there,” a senior BJP leader said.The leader recalled that BJP’s aim is to rise to power in all the states across the country, one after another. In order to achieve this goal, the leadership is considering Telangana as a gateway to the South in 2019 polls. 

“As we have no alliance with any party in Telangana, we are going to implement aggressive strategies to fill the void created by Congress’ downfall in the state. But in AP, where we are in alliance with  TDP, we will adopt a guarded approach to our wings. However, our target in AP for 2019 is  seeking a bigger share of seats from TDP,” Telangana BJP spokesman Krishna Saagar Rao told Express. According to him, BJP national president Amit Shah will pay special attention to TS and AP from September. He is likely to visit Telangana from September 10 to 12. BJP state executive will meet at Warangal on the coming Saturday and Sunday to chalk out its next action plan.

In case of AP, BJP is expected to witness drastic changes in the post-Venkaiah era in terms of expanding its base. “All future stratagems in AP will be formulated to force the TDP to give a greater share of seats to the BJP in 2019,” BJP AP unit vice-president P Kapileswaraiah told Express.

“Heretofore some Reddy leaders in Rayalaseema have been hesitating to join the BJP as our party is playing second fiddle to the TDP, which is predominantly seen as a party led by Kammas. Because of this, no significant leader from other parties has joined the BJP after the 2014 polls in AP. Now, as the state party affairs will be directly looked after by Amit Shah and general secretary Ram Madhav (another Telugu man), we are hopeful that the face of the BJP will change in AP by 2019,” a senior politico, who joined the BJP from Congress, told Express.

Strategy for AP
To take steps to strengthen party’s base by inducting leaders from other influential castes such as Reddy and Kapu to make the party fill the void created by decimation of Congress
Shedding party’s image as a junior player to TDP by engineering defections from other parties in the run-up to 2019 polls
Opening the door for possible alliance with YSRC in 2019 in order to make a hard bargain with TDP for seat-sharing
To take up issues relating to Rayalaseema aggressively to win over the people of the region, besides inducting influential Reddy leaders into the party
For Telangana
Main target will be Congress, BJP’s rival at national level
To engineer defections from Congress and to focus on party’s traditional bastions
Strengthening the party in 8 to 10 Lok Sabha constituencies and 60 Assembly segments, with main focus on Muslim-populated segments

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