BJP aiming to split vote banks
SNCN ACHARYULU
Hyderabad
“When you are not sure about your victory, try to defeat your arch-rival”. This simple theory is widely followed in politics when the fight is not a straight one between two parties. The BJP has chosen to follow the same in the Telugu states.
The appointment of new party presidents in the Telugu states indicates the intention of BJP for the upcoming Assembly elections. By appointing G Kishan Reddy, BJP wants to check the Reddy vote bank in Telangana. At the same time, by appointing Daggubati Purandeeshwari in AP, BJP wants to check the Kamma vote bank and through the Jana Senapresident Pawan Kalyan, BJP wants to check the Kapu vote bank as well.
The BJP leadership has reportedly decided to see to it at any cost that the Congress does not come to power in Telangana. Likewise, in Andhra Pradesh, it does not want the TDP to return to power. In Telangana, if Bharat Rashtra Samiti wins, there would be no problem as it has been maintaining equidistance from the BJP and the Congress.
After the Lok Sabha elections, if BRS’ support is necessary, the BJP leadership can convince the BRS president to get his support. As the Congress is the main opposition in Telangana, the BRS will not support the Congress at the Centre.
After the Karnataka Assembly elections, there has been hype about the Congress’ prospects in Telangana and its leaders are very confident about victory in the coming Assembly elections. In these circumstances, the BJP is trying to damage the prospects of the Congress, which will help the BRS ultimately. With the intention of splitting the Reddy vote bank, the BJP leadership has appointed G Kishan Reddy as TS unit president. Kishan Reddy is not aggressive like former president Bandi Sanjay Kumar in politics, particularly on BRS.
Regarding Andhra Pradesh, the BJP leadership has indicated its position over alliance with TDP by appointing Daggubati Purandeeshwari as state president. If the BJP were looking for an alliance with TDP, it would have selected someone other than Purandeeshwari. The main intention of BJP is to spilt Kamma vote bank, which will damage the prospects of TDP. If the BJP has alliance with TDP, the Kamma votes will be polled to TDP and BJP alliance and there is no need to appoint a Kamma leader as state president.
Majority Kamma votes will poll to TDP without any doubt. Now the BJP thinks by appointing Purandeeshwari as state president there will be a split in Kamma vote bank.At the same time, the BJP feels that the Jana Sena will attract Kapu votes and there will be a split in the Kapu vote bank also. The BJP feels that the anti-YS Jagan Kapu votes willgo to Jana Sena and not to TDP. With the spilt in Kamma and Kapu votes, the prospects of TDP will be damaged and ultimately it will help YSR Congress.
The BJP leadership strongly feels that TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is a fair-weather friend and present CM YS Jagan is somewhat better. In the present political circumstances, there is no chance for BJP to come to power in the Telugu states. Therefore, it has chosen to target its archrival in Telangana and unreliable friend in AP. This will help BRS in Telangana and YSR Congress in AP.
