“This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends, only permanent interests.” – says William Clay. This is a quote which best suits the present politics in both Telugu States – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, when it comes to the burning topic “BJP-TDP re-alliance”.
The debate on this alliance triggered after the TDP announced unconditional support to the BJP’s Presidential candidate, even before the national party decided the candidate. After the announcement of the name of the candidate as Draupadi Murmu, the TDP invited and met her in Amaravati.
The speculation gained more and more hold, particularly after the TDP President Nara Chandrababu Naidu called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on August 6 and held a discussion on their political interests.
On the other hand, the BJP’s ally Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan also repeatedly said that he would not allow the YSRCP to come into power again in 2024 and for that he would not split the anti-incumbency vote in the State. Indirectly, he was encouraging the BJP and TDP to join hands. In fact, Pawan Kalyan, during a recent press conference confirmed that, “Anything may happen in politics. Till recently, we all thought that Narendra Modi and Chandrababu Naidu would not meet. But, they met. Let us wait and see, what will happen in the future”. He reacted like this when a question came from a journalist on the speculation of TDP-BJP alliance.
What were the key points, which encouraged both TDP and BJP to give a scope for this discussion in the media? In fact, the TDP, which went out of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) just before 2019 General Elections, tried to get into the same wagon after the elections. But, at that time, according to the TDP sources, the BJP and Narendra Modi did not pay attention to the feelers sent by the regional party on realliance. Meanwhile, TDP supremo had decided to strengthen the party first and stand on its own resources and strengths. From then onwards, the TDP started to fight against the YSRCP in the State. After three years, the TDP and BJP both were seeing equal opportunities in having the renewed alliance.
The BJP is desperate and very much need for a regional political party support in Telangana Assembly General Elections, to be held in the second half of the next year. It required some base in Andhra Pradesh too. In fact, the BJP does not have even a single elected member from Andhra Pradesh either for Assembly or for Lok Sabha. The alliance with TDP in the past yielded good results for both, TDP and BJP in united Andhra Pradesh as well as in the bifurcated Andhra.
It is worth mentioning here that Nara Chandrababu Naidu observed that he would not comment on the speculation of alliance between TDP and BJP, during an informal interaction with journalists here on Thursday. He further observed that, “We see the national politics in the interest of Andhra Pradesh only. The State has been suffering a lot. Industries were going away from the State, since the YSRCP came to power.” His comments gained more importance. He said that the TDP would come into power in the next general elections and would develop the State.
