TDP, YSRCP wooing BJP with different motives

Visakhapatnam Political circles are agog with the talk that the Telugu Desam Party, which walked out of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in protest against denial of Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh in 2018 may attend the crucial meeting of allies of the saffron brigade convened in New Delhi on July 18.

However, neither there is any confirmation from the BJP nor the TDP even as the N Chandrababu Naidu-led party, which is making a serious bid to stage a comeback to power in elections due in next nine months by aligning with actor Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party. Incidentally, Pawan Kalyan, who is part of NDA, has been lobbying for a fight by the United Opposition to dislodge YSRCP from power. The BJP top leadership has been maintaining stoic silence over the feelers sent by Pawan Kalyan to join hands with the TDP even as the BJP leadership sprang a surprise by naming former Union Minister for HRD Daggubati Purandeswari to head BJP unit in AP as its State president. Purandeswari is NTR’s daughter and sister of Chandrababu Naidu’s wife Bhuvaneswari.

BJP is holding the crucial meeting in Delhi by inviting Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and others in a bid to strengthen the alliance at a time when the Congress and anti-BJP parties are trying to forge a new front to put up common candidates to defeat BJP in 2024 general elections.

TDP has already mounted an attack on the YSRCP for the frequent visits of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to Delhi. The recent airdashing of Reddy and meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah is being attributed by the TDP as a desperate attempt to halt proceedings in the former Minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy’s murder case by CBI and also to either join the NDA or remain close with the BJP top leadership as part of tactical understanding.

“He flew to Delhi for the 29th time without any agenda only to frantically request the top leaders of BJP to save himself and his close lieutenants from arrest in the cases booked by CBI,” TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh alleged.

Denying stoutly the allegations made by Lokesh, his father Chandrababu Naidu and leaders like Varla Ramaiah and Pattabhiram, YSRCP general secretary and Government Advisor (Policy Affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said Jagan Mohan Reddy’s only mission behind Delhi visits is to get funds for the State and put pressure on the Centre to implement promises made at the time of bifurcation. He said TDP in a desperate bid to come back to power is making baseless and concocted allegations to mislead the public out of jealousy to stomach the humiliating defeat it suffered in 2019 elections and the growing popularity of YSRCP due to implementation of all the election-related promises made by it.