Rejig baffles BJP ranks in Andhra Pradesh

Vijayawada: Expansion of the Union Cabinet without representation from the BJP-AP unit ahead of the 2019 general election has baffled the local party rank and file. M Venkaiah Naidu from the party represented the state as Urban Development minister along with YS Chowdary and P Ashok Gajapathi Raju from the ally TDP till his elevation as Vice-President.

Speculations were ripe, suggesting Naidu’s close follower and party state president K Haribabu as his successor in the cabinet. Haribabu rushed to Delhi in a bid to keep himself available to the party leadership in the run up to the cabinet reshuffle.

In the meantime, TVs flashed scrolls and print media carried lead stories projecting him as a ‘minister in waiting’. The Crestfallen Haribabu returned to his hometown Visakhapatnam after failing to find his name in the list of new ministers.

AP and Telangana present a contrasting picture in terms of the BJP’s organizational character. When Telangana has a cadre base in some pockets without capable leaders, it is the other way round in AP. With the credit of sending a vocal leader Venkaiah Naidu with a stature as a national leader to Vice-Presidential assignment, the AP party boasts of having two ministers—Kamineni Srinivas and P Manikyala Rao—in the TDP government, two MPs and four MLAs (including two ministers).

The party circles offer different reasons for the poor cadre base in the state which include the alleged self-centered style of functioning of Venkaiah Naidu and the alliance with the TDP. The sections articulating the need to project the BJP as an independent entity in the state describe the alliance as ‘Drutharastra kaugili’.

“The alliance benefited only the TDP but not the BJP in anyway given the past experience”, said a senior leader from coastal region while underlining the need to expanse the cadre base. Induction of any senior member in the cabinet will obviously help in emergence of a leader with some popularity by virtue of power. But the leadership ignored this aspect due to inexplicable reasons, he commented.

After the talk of cabinet expansion, it appears to be the time for the party to focus on change of guard in the AP unit. Haribabu’s term as party state president expired one and a half year ago.

But he is continuing in the post at the instance of Venkaiah Naidu in a bid to preempt the moves rival groups to take over the mantle. Naidu’s exit from active politics seems lending strong ground to his intra-party rivals who are pitching for change of Haribabu leadership.

A source in the party said the all-India party leadership is likely to effect the changes in state party by the month-end. The name of former minister Kanna Lakshminarayana who defected from the Congress as a probable successor of Haribabu is doing the rounds.

Hailing from Kapu community, he is said to be enjoying support from Venkaiah’s rivals such as former union ministers Daggubati Purandhareswari and Kavuri Sambasiva Rao. The party top brass is hoping Kanna will facilitate defection of senior Congress leaders like Shailajanath from Anantapur district and strengthen the party in areas where it is still a non-entity.

Old timers may oppose Kanna’s anointment. “The leadership change is imminent shortly unless some unforeseen and extraneous interventions from CM Naidu will come into play seeking a status quo.

By G Nagaraja