The Jana Sena Party’s (JSP) decision to forge an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has essentially come as a bolt from the blue to the BJP, as it has been under the impression that its partnership with the JSP is not only intact but also flourishing all these years.
While expressing his resolve to join the TDP in the fight against the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), JSP chief Pawan Kalyan has sounded optimistic that the BJP will eventually join the newly-formed political front.
The BJP is, for the time being, treading cautiously about Mr. Pawan Kalyan’s announcement. This is evident from a statement by its media wing, which has said that the party’s Central leadership will chart its future course on alliances, and that the JSP-BJP alliance is continuing.
So, the BJP stands at the crossroads of Andhra Pradesh (AP) politics, facing an unenviable task of either sailing with the TDP-JSP combine, or waging a lone battle.
Party strengths
It is pertinent to mention here that among the three parties, the TDP is apparently the strongest with nearly 40% vote share in the 2019 elections. The JSP is next with about 5.60% vote share, which is far better than the BJP’s approximate share of 0.85%.
As far as their strengths in the Legislative Assembly are concerned, the TDP has 23 seats and the JSP a lone one. The BJP had drawn a blank, which compares poorly with its previous tally of four MLAs in 2014.
Coming to the surprise announcement on September 14, Mr. Pawan Kalyan was dithering for quite some time about the pros and cons of allying with the TDP. It was not that the BJP had no inkling of what was in store, but its State leadership had little, or no freedom, to take a decision that would have salvaged the situation for the party.
The JSP has not been getting along nicely with the BJP for more than a year, except for Mr. Pawan Kalyan’s occasional interactions with its top brass — Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and J.P. Nadda.
But, he had openly said that his party would not hesitate to contest the 2024 elections on its own if it was forced to, after differences with the BJP over the manner in which its State leadership conducted itself on issues related to Andhra Pradesh peaked.
This is notwithstanding Mr. Modi’s purported willingness to sort out the problems the State has been facing since bifurcation.
Synergy missing
In fact, it was with the confidence that the BJP-led NDA Government would fulfil the commitments given to A.P. in the run-up to and after bifurcation that had prompted Mr. Pawan Kalyan to forge his alliance with the BJP in January 2020. But the alliance had started to crumble a few months later, and the synergy was evidently missing at the lower rungs of both the parties.
Mr. Pawan Kalyan has since been gravitating towards the TDP, as the BJP nursed its own political ambitions, which included coming to power on its own, and it seemed to be charting its course accordingly.
The JSP-TDP alliance is thus in the making, and it is only the timing of its announcement that has come as a pleasant surprise for their supporters, who are desperately wanting them to take on the YSRCP together.
