With a day left for the announcement of the Karnataka election results, political parties in Andhra Pradesh in general and the TDP in particular, are eagerly waiting for the outcome. The TDP leaders expect that the BJP may turn more aggressive against the TDP if it adds Karnataka to its feather.
With the exit polls announced after the completion of polling not giving any clear idea on which party will be crowned, the TDP leaders are on the tenterhooks.
The reason for the worry among TDP leaders is that the Centre may create problems for the State government, making use of Central investigation agencies.
For some time now, the TDP leaders are apprehensive that the BJP leaders will target the State government after Karnataka elections are over. They are of the view that the BJP might somehow go soft in case it suffers defeat in Karnataka Assembly elections and put all their focus on upcoming elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Speaking to TNIE, a senior minister said that the State government has information that the BJP, which used the Central investigation agencies in Karnataka for the last one year, will adopt the same in AP. If the saffron party wins the election in Karnataka, it may continue the same strategy of suppressing political opponents and in case it loses it will send a message to the Centre to desist from such practices, he said.
“Though we have nothing to do with the results of Karnataka elections, we are praying for the defeat of BJP. Only defeat will teach BJP a lesson and discourage it from taking unilateral decisions,” the minister added.
In fact, TDP leaders, including Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, appealed to the Telugu people settled in Karnataka to vote against the BJP as it did injustice to Andhra Pradesh by not giving Special Category Status (SCS) and not implementing the provisions of the AP State Reorganisation Act.
After snapping ties with BJP, the TDP leaders went berserk against the Centre and are continuing to criticise its various policies like the GST and demonetisation. The StategGovernment is trying to corner the Union Government by objecting to the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission.
Meanwhile, the appointment of Kanna Lakshminarayana, known as a bitter critic of Naidu, as the chief of BJP State unit just a day after the Karnataka elections indicates that BJP is all set to concentrate on Andhra Pradesh.