Bihar tremors are being felt in Andhra Pradesh BJP. The party, which had been aggressive against Telugu Desam government’s policies has decided to make peace with its ally, the TDP. All the MLAs and MLCs are meeting chief minister Chandrababu Naidu to discuss the issues that created bad blood between the two parties. The recent past had witnessed fierce war of words between the two parties with leaders such as Purandeswari, Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, Kanna Lakshminarayana and Somu Veerraju asking Naidu to reveal the expenditure details of Polavaram project before claiming reimbursement. In retaliation, TDP accused these ‘leaders with Congress ancestry’ of trying to drive a wedge between the two trusted allies.
Mellowed after Bihar debacle, the party seems to have realized that too much hostility with TDP won’t do good to either of them. So, the executive of the party, which met on Saturday in Vijayawada, decided to call on the chief minister on December 5 to have a free and frank discussion on origins of unpleasant relations. It is a open secret that the relations between the two parties soured because of Naidu’s unwillingness to accommodate the Saffron party in the power structure at any level. BJP wants some say in the implementation of welfare schemes. This displeasure is getting articulated in the statements of Purandeswari, Kanna, Kavuri and Virraju.
But, following Modi’s loss of face in Bihar, the party in Andhra Pradesh has come around to the view that it no longer can afford to wage war with the ruling TDP. Hence the decision to meet Naidu on December 5.
The meeting slated on December 5 is first meeting of the coordination committee set up recently between the two parties. According to party vice president Kapileswaraiah, during the proposed meeting, leaders of both the parties will try to work out a formula to achieve greater coordination between the two parties in the State. “We will be calling on the Chief Minister Naidu on Dec 5 at Vijayawada to improve coordination between the two parties. Issues like giving adequate representation to BJP in nominated posts, setting up coordination committees at district level, giving due credit to the BJP while publicizing Central schemes such as construction of houses to weaker sections, Smart Cities and providing 24X7 power,” Kapileswaraiah told ‘telugu360.com‘.
Interestingly, the representation in the coordination committee is confined to elected representatives only. None of the vocal critics of Naidu such as Purandeswari, Kanna and Kavuri are members.
Talking about Rayalaseema, Kapileswaraiah said the BJP was planning another meeting with chief minister Naidu exclusively on issues pertaining to the region. This was meant to draw the attention of chief minister to the long pending issues of the region like Siddeswaram, Gundrevula projects. ” As a preparatory, we are organizing a round table in Kurnool on December 12 with experts on the issues that need immediate attention from the government. Experts from all fields are being invited to the meeting. And we have asked health minister Kamineni Srinivas to fix up the appointment with the CM before end December,” Kapaleswaraiah, who was in Hyderabad on Sunday in connection with Dr Subramanya Swamy’s lecture, said.
