Those, who have watched the live proceedings of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly winter session, might have noticed one palpable change in the stance of BJP members in the house towards their ally TDP. In the past two days, it has been the BJP legislature party leader, Vishnukumar Raj, who defended chief minister Naidu and his son Lokesh Babu more aggressively than any TDP member. TDP members seemed no match for him either in attacking Opposition Leader Jaganmohan Reddy or defending TDP government.
It is in sharp contrast to the behavior of Raju, an MLA from Visakhapatnam, in the previous sessions. Giving rise to suspicions of his motive, Raju praised YS Rajasekhar Reddy in the Assembly much to the discomfiture of even speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao in winter session 2014. He was all praise for YS Rajasekhar Reddy. He said YS Rajasekhar Reddy gave whatever IT companies wanted in Vizag. “He gave lands. He gave whatever requested for. We have great respect for him. We still have the portraits of YSR hung in our offices. After YSR death, ITIR was ignored. … Even now, the project is moving at snail’s pace,” he said provoking chair to suggest the BJP MLA to come to the point without digging into the past. Raju said he was talking of his experience of working with YSR as the president IT Parks association of Vizag.
Same day he met the Opposition Leader Jaganmohan Reddy for twenty minutes in his office, giving rise to speculation about his motives. This same Raju, now, warns Jagan yesterday, that would cut his tail in two minutes. He demanded Jagan to withdraw the accusation he hurled at chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and Nara Lokesh in connection with the Call Money. He urged the speaker to expunge the remarks. On Saturday too, he said the YSR Congress members had no knowledge of rules. He looked upset over the alleged behavior of the Opposition members. Speaker also readily gave permission to speak whenever Raju raised his hand.
All this, observes say, is the result of the Bihar debacle. After the humiliating defeat in Bihar Assembly elections, the BJP transformed itself in Andhra Pradesh and moved closer to TDP. A coordination committee between BJP and TDP has been set up with legislators alone. Leaders like Purandeswari, Kanna Lakshminarayana, Kavuri Sambasivarao, who are Naidu’s critics, have been sidelined and silenced. Having seen ‘more loyal that the king’ enthusiasm of Vishnukumar Raju , Jagan rightly dubbed him as ‘half BJP and half TDP”member.