BJP AP incharge Sunil Deodhar, party AP President Somu Veerraju and other leaders are now talking about their full focus on winning the Tirupati MP byelection. They are repeatedly saying that they will pull off a surprise victory in Tirupati also just like they did Dubbaka assembly segment in Telangana.
In 2019, Bommi Srihari Rao contested on the BJP ticket and as part of its alliance with Jana Sena. There is considerable presence of the Jana Sena Party in Tirupati assembly segment and surroundings. Now, there is a view that the BJP should give the MP seat to the Jana Sena for winning it.
For close observers of the AP political scene, the BJP leaders’ big targets are undoubtedly unrealistic. The BJP central leaders may be thinking that Tirupati is the most prestigious religion place for the Hindus. As such, their party will and must have big scope for a win in view of the changing people’s opinions about the ruling YCP and the Opposition TDP in the State. But, the big question is how the BJP can attract the large number of Dalit and tribal voters who are not strict adherents to Hinduism.
The BJP is also losing sight of the fact that Tirupati MP seat is an SC reserved constituency. Tirupati assembly segment is unreserved. There are assembly constituencies like Sullurpet and Gudur in Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency that have a predominant presence of the weaker sections. If all this is taken into consideration, there is not even a remote possibility of the BJP to come anywhere near the winning range.
Analysts say that the BJP’s focus on Tirupati is certainly going to upset the TDP’s calculations in a big way. Chandrababu Naidu might have been confident of winning Tirupati bypoll because of the backlash against the Government in the wake of continuing atrocities against the Dalits and backward classes. But, the threat of a vote split is still there. Just like in the 2019 polls, the BJP and Jagan Sena may once again split the vote bank leading to a clear advantage to the YCP. Tirupati will see a tight contest between the TDP and the YCP if the BJP-Jana Sena alliance enters the fray separately.
