BJP weighs options with both Naidu, Jagan Reddy

Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024 and simultaneous state polls, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy paid a visit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Friday.

The meeting holds significance from an electoral perspective as it comes less than 24 hours after Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu met Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP boss JP Nadda.

While CM Reddy is said to have met the Prime Minister to discuss Special Category status for his state, central funds and other issues, political analysts, however, are singing a different tune.

According to analysts, Naidu’s visit to Shah and Nadda and Reddy’s meeting with PM Modi in a matter of 24 hours suggests that the BJP is weighing on its options of aligning with either side or remaining neutral, an NDTV report said.

Although a formal alliance with either party might prove beneficial, the move comes with its challenges, the biggest of which would be the issue of seat-sharing.

Quoting sources, a CNN-News18 report said that Naidu, who is also the former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is keen to join hands with the BJP. Many in the ruling party believe that an alliance with Naidu will help the NDA perform well in the state that is ruled by the YSR Congress.

Currently, the BJP has no Lok Sabha member from the state.

A senior BJP leader said his party is open to an alliance but it will all depend on how many seats the TDP agrees to give it, especially for the Lok Sabha polls.

Both parties had fought the 2014 polls together when Telangana was yet to be formally separated from Andhra Pradesh. The BJP had then fought three seats and won all of them out of the 42 seats.

The TDP, however, had walked out of the NDA in 2018 but suffered majorly in the 2019 polls when it could win only three Lok Sabha seats and lost power in the state to the YSR Congress, which has mostly supported the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on key issues for the last five years.