TDP backdoor ploy eyes 6 BJP seats?
Loyalists resent yellow leaders in saffron garb getting preference
VIJAYAWADA: Old-time BJP leaders and party loyalists of yore are in deep resentment over what they call is the backdoor ploy of the Telugu Desam to wrest most of the six Lok Sabha it has given to the party as part of the alliance.
"There are some opportunist leaders who have joined the BJP in Andhra Pradesh. These people are still loyal to the Telugu Desam and not at all committed to the ideology or growth of the BJP. It is sad to hear that such leaders might get preference in seat allotment by our party," a senior BJP leader in the state said.
A few senior BJP leaders including general secretary S. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, Paka Venkata Satyanarayana, Jupudi Ranga Raju and S. Dayakar, all state office-bearers, dashed off a letter to party president J.P. Nadda, complaining against the TD allotting seats which it could neither win nor the BJP had any chances.
The TD is backstabbing our party, they said adding that party leaders whose names were being considered for these seats too could not win. Some BJP leaders still are loyal to TD and never work for the BJP's growth, they pointed out.
The heartburn is typical of several loyalists of the party, who say that while the TD has allotted six Lok Sabha seats, how would it really help the BJP if most of the tickets go to Naidu loyalists.
While the BJP-TD-Jana Sena alliance has not yet finalised the seats where the saffron party would contest, and the BJP has not yet announced its candidates, there are rumours in political circles that the BJP might give tickets to former MPs C.M. Ramesh and Y.S. Chowdary, AP party chief and former Union minister D. Purandeshwari, K. Raghurama Krishna Raju, ex-MLC P.V.N. Madhav, K. Geeta and Kiran Kumar.
The seats in most probability would be Anakapalle, Rajahmundry, Narsapur, Eluru, Rajampet and Araku. The alliance might also give the Kakinada and Machilipatnam to the Jana Sena led by actor Pawan Kalyan.
While at an event in the state when senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde tried to justify the alliance with the TD as being in the larger benefit of the state and the people, a section of the party expressed their anger against the leadership for partnering with "turncoat Naidu", after he made scathing remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the past.
"Naidu used abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and used unprintable words. Should we join him before insisting that he apologise for his remarks against PM Modi," another leader asked angrily.
Another section of BJP leaders, while not opposing the alliance, said they suspected that the TD was giving "unwinnable" seats to the saffron party and keeping the best seats for itself. They further alleged that the TD had a hidden agenda, and the decisions on seats would hurt the BJP both in the short- and the long-term.
"Some of these leaders are pro-TD while in Vijayawada, pro-BRS or pro-Congress in Hyderabad and become BJP leaders only when they are in Delhi. Why should we carry them" he added.