BJP invites Jana Sena, skips TDP, YSRCP for NDA meet
Pawan Kalyan, along with his party’s political affairs committee chairman and former state assembly speaker Nadendla Manohar, has left for New Delhi on Monday to attend the NDA allies’ meeting.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has invited Jana Sena Party, headed by Telugu actor Pawan Kalyan, to the meeting of 38 alliance partners of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in New Delhi on Tuesday, but has kept away its erstwhile alliance partner Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Pawan Kalyan, along with his party’s political affairs committee chairman and former state assembly speaker Nadendla Manohar, has left for New Delhi on Monday to attend the NDA allies’ meeting.
“The Jana Sena Party received the invitation from the BJP national leadership a couple of days ago. Our party president, along with Manohar, would attend the meeting, which would be attended by the heads of various NDA allies,” Pawan Kalyan’s political secretary P Hariprasad said.
There were reports in a section of media last week that TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu would also attend the meeting of NDA allies, but the party did not receive any invite till Monday evening. “We have not received any call from the BJP leadership till now. We are not expecting it either,” TDP official spokesperson Kommareddy Pattabhi said.
The TDP had an alliance with the BJP in 2014 general elections held in the backdrop of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh state and came to power in the state. The party also joined the NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and were allotted two seats in the council of ministers – P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Y S Chowdary.
However, the TDP walked out of the NDA government in March 2018 after protesting against denial of special category status to Andhra Pradesh and also the injustice meted out to the state in fulfilment of the promises made at the time of bifurcation of the state.
Naidu took an aggressive stand against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by attacking them at all public meetings. He even made an attempt to stitch-up a grand alliance of anti-BJP parties, including Congress, to pull down Modi government in 2019 elections, but the efforts went in vain.
As Modi returned to power at the Centre for the second successive term, Naidu lost power to the YSR Congress party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh. In October 2019, the TDP chief, at an internal party meeting, admitted at a party meeting that quitting the BJP-led NDA was a big mistake, but he had to take the stand in the interest of the state.
Since then, the TDP has been expressing a soft behaviour towards the BJP by extending support to the Modi government during the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections.
In the last one year, BJP’s alliance partner Pawan Kalyan has also been trying to rope in the TDP into the alliance, so as to prevent the split of anti-incumbency votes in Andhra in the next year’s assembly elections.
Meanwhile, Naidu met Modi twice last year – once in April 2022 and again in December and had a brief talk.
On June 4 this year, Naidu also met Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda, hinting that the TDP might be back in the NDA fold.
However, there has been no further developments on the restoration of ties between the TDP and the BJP.
Against this backdrop, the lack of invitation to Naidu to the NDA allies’ meeting indicates that the BJP is not keen on joining hands with the TDP. “The TDP not being invited is a reasonably clear indication there is no thaw in the frosty relations between the yellow party and the BJP. At least till now,” said political analyst Sriram Karri.
Interestingly, the ruling YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh, which has been maintaining cordial relations with the BJP government at the Centre, has also not got any invitation for the NDA allies’ meeting.
“The YSRCP has never been an alliance partner of NDA. So, we don’t get any such invitation from the BJP,” a senior YSRCP leader seeking anonymity said.
Notably, the YSRCP dropped hints that it would keep its options open in supporting the coalition government at the Centre after 2024 elections – whether it is NDA or a grand alliance of anti-BJP parties, including the Congress.
YSRCP general secretary and parliamentary party leader V Vijay Sai Reddy tweeted on Monday that any party that forms government at the Centre, will need support from the YSCRP.
“The NDA with 30 parties is meeting in Delhi and 24 opposition parties are meeting in Bengaluru but this time, the road to Delhi in 2024 will pass through AP [Andhra Pradesh]. The Govt. at the Centre will be possible with the support of @YSRCParty as it has the blessings & popular vote of the people of AP,” he tweeted, adding that “All the surveys done so far, including those by national media, indicate YSRCP will again have a massive victory.”
Meanwhile, BJP president BJP Nadda during a press conderence at the party headquarters on Monday confirmed that leaders from 38 parties will attend the NDA alliances’ meet on Tuesday.
