Andhra Pradesh BJP?walks with collars up

Hyderabad: The BJP’s victory in the Assembly polls in four northern states has brought considerable respect for the party among politicians in AP.

The presence of the BJP as an effective organisation in the state as of now is limited and other political parties have not been enthusiastic about forging an electoral alliance with the saffron party.

But after Narendra Modi was anointed the BJP’s PM candidate, and Sunday’s victories, some parties could be doing a rethink.

The Telugu Desam is the front-runner when it comes to a possible alliance with the BJP, both in Telangana and Seemandhra regions. Both parties could gain electorally using the image Modi has built up and the organisational strength of the TD.

Sensing this, the YSRC shows signs of cosying up to the BJP with its chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, praising Modi as a good administrator. The YSRC has, however, said that it will never forge an alliance before the polls, but will think of supporting a national party post-poll.

Next: YSRC open to alliance with BJP

YSRC open to alliance with BJP

Hyderabad: A political adviser of YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said, “We don’t think the BJP will gain with the tieup with the TD, which has lost credibility all over, but we will keep our post-poll options open.”

As far as the TRS is concerned, it is not inclined to have a tie-up with the Congress despite the granting of Telangana state. TRS insiders say even after the Congress Working Committee took a favourable decision to carve out Telangana state on July 30 this year, the Telangana Congress leadership failed to create a pro-Congress wave in Telangana. The TRS’ internal assessment is that it is able to win at least 50 seats on its own in the new state.

And should the Telangana process be stalled, the TRS is positive it will sweep the forthcoming polls. “Our thinking of contesting independently this time has been strengthened with the anti-Congress wave in the election result of the four states,” said TRS leader T. Harish Rao.

The BJP is not committing itself. “Currently, we have decided to contest the coming polls alone. There is no change in the party’s stand. We are not thinking of any alliances with parties here. We are confident the Modi wave will sweep AP too,” said BJP state president G. Kishan Reddy.

There is some speculation about the fate of the T Bill in Parliament after the results of the four Assembly elections were announced on Sunday. There are unconfirmed reports that some Seemandhra leaders from the Congress and the TD are in touch with BJP national leaders and are urging them not to cooperate with the T process before the 2014 elections.