The muddled political scenario in AP

Suddenly, the BJP seems to be making some noise in Andhra Pradesh. Its national president J P Nadda spent two days and addressed the party pramukhs in Vijayawada and the party cadre in Rajamahendravaram.

The tone and tenor of his speeches has led to greater confusion about the attitude of BJP towards YSRCP. The way he ignored any mention about the alliance partner Jana Sena or its leader Pawan Kalyan makes one feel that the BJP is indulging in shadow boxing with YSRCP since it had extended unconditional support till next elections.

BJP top leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seems to be keeping the YSRC in good humour, with the Centre granting every wish of Chief Minister in recent days. It is a fact that YSRCP is not in a position to take an anti-BJP stand like KCR lest the Centre may flex its muscles.

With the election of the President and the Vice-President around the corner, the BJP national leadership does not want to antagonise the YSRCP. It also does not seem to be willing to buy any of the options proposed by Pawan Kalyan. Pawan said that one of the options was to have an alliance between TDP-BJP and Jana Sena. This is most unlikely to happen as the BJP has reservations in allying with TDP though it knows that the yellow party is a formidable opposition in the state. At the same time, it cannot project Pawan as the CM candidate though Jana Sena has a greater vote share compared to the BJP in AP.

Nadda told the party leaders that they know what to do in AP. "We have a strategy for Andhra Pradesh and will do whatever is required," he told the core committee at a late night meeting on Monday. If political circles are to be believed, the strategy for the present is to go slow against the YSRCP. The party believes that Jagan would also prefer going in for early polls and may club it with Lok Sabha elections which is speculated to be held during the first-half of 2023, may be around April or so.

This would mean that alliances are ruled out and there would be either a triangular or even four-cornered contest in the next elections. The BJP's calculation, perhaps, is that this will help the YSRCP overcome the anti-incumbency factor and come back to power again. How the people will react one has to wait and watch.

Nadda accepted the fact that organisation-wise BJP is very weak in the state and it should focus from the ground-level rather than worry about alliances. But the problem is it does not a fiery leader like Bandi Sanjay in Telangana. Somu Veeraraju is unpredictable and TDP hater. The party has failed to create a mark among people. The BJP is currently in alliance with the Jana Sena in AP. Whether the national party is serious about continuing the alliance is also not known now. Nadda's cold shouldering of Pawan Kalyan added to the political spice.

For its part, the Jana Sena appears to be making moves to bring their erstwhile ally Telugu Desam back into their fold to ensure that there is no split in opposition votes that could benefit the ruling YSR Congress. TDP is not averse to patch up old ties with both BJP and Jana Sena in the prevailing political scenario in the state. But at the same time, Jana Sena wants Pawan to be the CM candidate which TDP would never accept. At the most, they may agree for some seat-sharing provided the demand is reasonable. In one word, the confusion continues. A lot will depend on how clear the people are.