Big political churn likely soon in Telugu States

Politics in the two Telugu States seems to be taking a curious turn. The picture regarding alliances is still hazy. Who is helping whom is the big question. There are speculations that as far as Telangana is concerned, there is an unwritten and unannounced understanding between the TDP and the BRS. Speculations are that the BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao would not have any objection if the TDP tries to resurrect itself. Initially when Sharmila launched her padayatra, it was said that she was being encouraged by the pink party so that it would help in splitting the anti-incumbency votes. But as her padayatra did not receive the kind of attention that was expected, KCR seems to have felt that it was a missed missile.

A little later, TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu addressed a massive public meeting at Khammam after over four years which generated a lot of interest. What needs to be noted here is that he did not criticise the BRS or its policies. He only listed out what he had done for Telangana, particularly the development of Hyderabad. He has also finalised the schedule for a series of public meetings in various parts of Telangana to be culminated with a massive public meeting at Parade Grounds in Hyderabad. Barring few 'namke vaste' comments by the second rung leaders of BRS, no one opposed it.

Similarly, neither Pawan nor Naidu had opposed the entry of BRS in Andhra Pradesh. Equally significant was Pawan's comment after the meeting he had with Naidu on Sunday at Hyderabad. Pawan welcomed BRS entry and Naidu recalled how TDP had an alliance with TRS in 2009 and said later they contested separately. Anyone can have alliance with anyone depending upon political situations, he said.

The question now is what the role of BRS in AP would be and whose votes would it cut into. The BRS is trying to win over Kapus and BCs. In 2019 elections, it was these sections that went with YSRCP. The YSRCP feels that the entry of BRS will help Jagan as it will split anti-incumbency votes but if the BRS focuses on Kapu and BC votes, it could affect the YSRCP vote bank, analysts say. Another issue that is tied in knots in Andhra Pradesh is the role of BJP. While in Telangana, it is clear that this time the fight is going to be between the saffron party and the pink party, in Andhra Pradesh the saffron party seems to be travelling on two boats. On one hand they want to have alliance with Pawan and on the other, they are not taking on the BJP the way Bandi Sanjay is doing in Telangana. The AP BJP is a divided house and the dissent is increasing. There are allegations that state BJP president Somu Veerraju has a soft corner towards YSRCP and does not carry all the sections of BJP with him.

Sensing that sailing with BJP may not be advantageous, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan has started moving closer to TDP once again. It seems that neither TDP nor Jana Sena wants to openly admit the secret understanding they had arrived at as part of a political strategy to keep the ruling party guessing.

At the ground level, both leaders and cadres of Jana Sena and TDP have already started making noise about the need for Pawan and Naidu to join hands. They feel that in the days to come, there would be more violence from the ruling party cadres and hence the need of the hour is to bring all anti- YSRCP forces on one platform. Just as the weather would be less hazy from the end of January as Uttarayan would begin, political scenario is also likely to become clearer and the battle lines would be drawn.