HYDERABAD: TDP and BJP, which are partners in the governments both at the Centre and in Andhra Pradesh, appear to be competing with each other in engineering defections from the YSR Congress (YSRC) in the reorganised state to their respective parties.
Ahead of BJP president Amit Shah’s visit to the state, slated for January 8, the saffron party’s state leadership has intensified efforts to attract YSRC leaders to its side, besides persuading the Congress seniors to join it.
For now, the BJP leadership seems to have succeeded in convincing some YSRC biggies, who come from party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s native Kadapa district, to join the party. Proving this, two influential leaders in Kadapa’s YSRC unit, Kandula Rajamohan Reddy and MLA C Adinarayana Reddy, are said to be ready to shift their loyalties to the BJP. Both the leaders are from Reddy community, to which the YSRC chief belongs.
Rajamohan indicated that he would join the BJP on Jan uary 18. Adinarayana too has begun dropping hints that he is all set to join the party, saying, “It is true that I am not happy the way Jagan is running the YSRC. BJP leadership is inviting me to join them. I will take a final call on this very soon”.
What does the BJP want to achieve by encouraging defections from the YSRC into it? The answer is simple. Since BJP has not got traditional base in the state, the party leadership wants to establish a firm base for it by admitting powerful leaders from the YSRC and the Congress, who have mass appeal among grassroots workers.
As of now, the BJP is not a force to be reckoned with in Andhra Pradesh. Following its passiveness in the state politics, the party has failed to produce ‘political stars’ of its own. In order to overcome this drawback and have its own leaders, the BJP is for now trying to ‘borrow’ stars from other parties to improve its electoral fortunes. The party is primarily concentrating on attracting powerful Reddy leaders in the YSRC.
BJP’s Andhra unit chief Kambhampati Haribabu said, “There is a political vacuum in the state following the weakening of the Congress and other parties. Our party is aiming at filling this vacuum by inducting leaders from other parties into it.” He added that several leaders from other parties were showing interest to join the BJP during Shah’s visit.
The BJP leadership at the same time is focusing its attention on convincing some of the Congress seniors such as former APCC boss Botcha Satyanarayana and former minister DL Ravindra Reddy, who are strong politicians in their respective districts, to join the party. Even former chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is being approached to join the BJP.
A classic example for the ongoing competition between the TDP and the BJP over attracting disgruntled leaders from Jagan’s camp to their respective parties is former minister Konathala Ramakrishna, who had quit the YSRC recently.
At a time when the BJP leadership held talks with Konathala to make him join the party, the TDP leadership stepped in and is learnt to have persuaded him to take their membership.
It shows that all is not well between the TDP and the BJP, which share power in the state and at the Centre. Both the parties seem to be heading for a face-off in the coming days by trying to strengthen their respective parties in the state.
The TDP has also intensified efforts to woo dissatisfied MPs and MLAs from the YSRC to its fold. So far, the party leadership has succeeded in making two MPs of the YSRC—S P Y Reddy (Nandyal) and Kothapalli Geeta (Araku)—extend their support to the yellow party.
It is also trying to woo several disgruntled leaders from the YSRC. The recent crossover of YSRC senior leader Jupudi Prabhakar to the TDP is a case in point.
TDP leaders are claiming that at least six MLAs from Jagan’s party are ready to join them soon. “Of these six MLAs, three are from north Andhra, another is from Prakasam district, one each from Nellore and Kurnool districts,” said TDP senior Kambhampati Ramamohana Rao.
Meanwhile, Jagan has decided to undertake a series of protest demonstrations against the ‘anti-people’ policies of the TDP government in the state in order to keep his flock together. He will be sitting on a fast on January 6 and 7, ahead of Shah’s visit to Andhra Pradesh.