Though the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have succeeded in keeping their alliance intact following consultations Friday, the bad blood between the parties does not show any signs of abatement at the ground level.
Leaders and the cadre of both the parties in north Coastal Andhra and the twin Godavari districts, are not willing to cooperate with each other.
Ever since the TDP and BJP top leaders have decided to enter into an alliance, the TDP cadre in Coastal Andhra region have been opposing it and at some places, TDP activists came out openly criticising their poll ally that it does not have enough cadre to win certain seats. As a part of the alliance, TDP gave Visakhapatnam and Narsapuram Lok Sabha seats to BJP which also offered the Assembly constituencies of Vizag North and Paderu in Visakhapatnam district, Itchapuram in Srikakulam district, Rajahmundry Urban in East Godavari district and Tadepalligudem in West Godavari district.
The TDP leaders said that BJP which has negligible cadre in Coastal Andhra region, wants to ride on the ‘NaMo’ wave to garner some seats to strengthen its base in Andhra Pradesh. They feel that sailing with Telugu Desam would be a profitable deal for BJP, but the fact remains that this is possible only if the TDP cadre completely cooperates with the BJP candidates. “Notwithstanding the final agreement over the alliance, the TDP activists are angry over denial of seats to local leaders due to the alliance with the BJP and are hell bent to support the TDP rebel candidates,” admitted a TDP leader from Vizag.
It is precisely for this reason that the BJP was prompted to give back the Itchapuram Assembly seat to TDP as per the latest agreement after TDP leader Bendalam Ashok not only filed nomination as rebel candidate but also threatened to field his father Prakash for the Srikakulam Parliamentary constituency.