2014 is still months away, but the uncertainty caused by the Telanagana decision has already got alliance dances going. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh in Delhi recently sparking buzz about a possible alliance. Soon afterwards, YSR Congress Party (YSRC) honorary president Y S Vijayalakshmi also called on Singh separately, though both leaders gave the usual spiel that they didn’t discuss politics. Since 1983, either the Congress or the TDP ran the state alternatively. After the inception of separatist Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), in 2001, the party has become a hot alliance favourite for both the Congress and the TDP. Telangana has 119 Assembly seats out of the 294 in the state Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats out of 42. The new player, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s alliance plans will be the game changer in 2014. The Congress hopes the Telangana division could confine Jagan to Seemandhra and also cut the TDP boss down to size.
What followed was a scramble for allies, starting with Naidu, trying a NDA redux with BJP. However, the YSRC honorary chief Vijayamma’s recent meeting with the BJP President Rajnath Singh in Delhi and Jagan’s praises on Modi seems to have invited the wrath of the AIMIM.