Hyderabad, February 03: The BJP national leadership has decided to focus on Andhra Pradesh as part of its strategy to regain the lost ground at the national level. The party wants to maintain good relations with all the non-Congress parties in the state to get their cooperation in national politics and has shortlisted some important personalities from the state to seek their help to achieve its political targets.
The BJP is determined to change the political scenario in the state that had given 33 parliamentary seats to the Congress thereby helping the UPA form government for the second time at the Centre. By concentrating on the state politics, the BJP hopes to gain at the national level in the coming days.
The party thinks that the Congress-led UPA government may go for elections anytime but may not come back to power for the third time. In this scenario, the BJP fancies its chances by maintaining good relations with the non-Congress parties in the state. It plans to cosy up to its one-time ally, the TDP, besides improving its ties with other parties like the TRS, the PRP and the yet-to-be announced party of former Congress MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy, which is likely to be announced in February second week.
A senior leader who has been drafted for the mission has already been touring the state to forge ties with the non-Congress parties. A few months back, BJP senior leader and opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley visited the state and gave an indirect call to the TDP to re-join the NDA.
NDA convener Sharad Yadav called on TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu twice when the latter sat on an indefinite fast on farmer’s issue recently and extended the NDA’s support to him. Several NDA partners, including Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal also visited the state and expressed solidarity with the TDP chief in his fight against the Congress government. The state leadership of the BJP is also in constant touch with the TDP president.
The BJP-led NDA is planning to hold a massive public meeting in February second week in Hyderabad to ‘expose’ the Congress on the 2G spectrum scam and to show their strength to the prospective allies. On the other hand, by continuing in the TJAC, the BJP is also maintaining its role in the T movement and its cordial relations with the TRS.
At the same time, the BJP is also not underestimating former Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s strength in the state politics and wants to maintain a cordial relation with him. BJP leaders predict that Jagan’s party will spell doom for the Congress in the state pushing it into the 1994-like situation when it had won only 26 seats in the Assembly elections.
The party thinks that Jagan will win a few parliament seats in the next elections and, if the Congress is not in a position to form the government at the Centre, will join the NDA camp.
–Agencies