Chandrababu Naidu eyes alliance with BJP ahead of elections

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which is looking to ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Andhra Pradesh for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections that will be held simultaneously there, will have to offer the best deal it can, even as its main competitor in the state, the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) will not form any alliance with the BJP, at least a pre-poll alliance.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

The Chandrababu Naidu led TDP knows that this is among the most crucial elections that it has contested, as the 73-year-old Naidu needs to do well in this election so that he can establish his son, Nara Lokesh strongly, both within the TDP and in the Andhra political sphere. Till now, Lokesh has failed to prove that he has the mass support that his father used to have. It is because of this challenge and the fact that the TDP has been out of power, both at the state and the Centre, that Nadiu is looking to tie up with the BJP. Another five years without a say in the political and administrative developments both in Hyderabad and in Delhi, will hurt the family-run TDP severely. Andhra Pradesh sends 25 Lok Sabha Members of Parliament to Delhi and will play a key role in BJP’s quest for 400-plus seats in the forthcoming elections. In an interesting development earlier this month, while TDP chief Naidu met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on 8 February, his bête noire, Jagan Reddy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi the next day.

Even though there is no formal alliance between the BJP and the YSRCP, the latter is seen as a partner of the BJP due to its decision to stand with the BJP on contentious issues.

According to YSRCP sources, Jagan Reddy and PM Modi were on the same page on many issues that relate to the development of the state, and hence contrary to the narrative, even if TDP joins hands with the BJP, Reddy will not face a hostile Delhi.