Jagan Modi meeting has more than meets the eye

Is Modi-Jagan meeting a sign of the BJP attempts to look for new friends in Andhra Pradesh? It is quite common for a political party to bet on winning horses. BJP also took a strong exception at the way how its TDP friends reacted over the meeting by targeting the PM. The hair-thin difference of votes the TDP-BJP combine and the YSRC polled in 2014 general elections seemingly worries the TDP. It was only just 1.29 per cent of votes (hardly 6 lakh) that tilted the scales in favour of the TDP

AP’s Leader of Opposition YS Jaganmohan Reddy of the YSRC had a one-to-one meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi in the second week of May. Jagan was said to have received a call from the Prime Minister’s Office just one day before the scheduled date. The 40-minute-long secret meeting has triggered an intense political heat in the heat with a triangle debate over the hidden agenda involving the ruling TDP, BJP and the YSRC.

A section of TDP leaders went on record, finding fault with Modi for giving an audience to an “offender” allegedly involved in several cases relating to economic offences and corruption. They even stated that the PM’s “clean image” will take a beating if he meets people with shady track records. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was away in the US when the Modi-Jagan interface took the politicos of all shades by surprise.

Upon his return, Naidu hurriedly convened a late night media conference to set the record straight by training guns on Jagan. The CM accused the Leader of Opposition of having begged for Modi’s mercy to bail himself out from the whirlpool of criminal cases. In an in-camera meeting, Chandrababu was learnt to have ticked off his party colleagues for blaming the Prime Minister and thereby mistargeting the rival.

The YSRC said CM Naidu, allegedly involved neck-deep in corruption and in the cash-for-vote case, has become jittery after Jagan’s meeting with the Prime Minister. Jagan handed a booklet titled “Emperor of Corruption” brought out by his party on corruption charges against Naidu and his son and IT minister Nara Lokesh in AgriGold case to the PM during the interaction.
The BJP took a strong exception at the way how its TDP friends reacted over the meeting by targeting the PM. Its AP leaders asserted that after all the Prime Minister shall be accessible to everyone and that Jagan is no exception.

The triangle war of words made whispers of discomfort in the TDP-BJP ruling camp louder and shriller. Of course, there are no permanent foes and friends in politics, driven by expediencies only.It is a fact that Jagan, feeling stifled by the probing agencies, had been moving a heaven and earth for an audience with the Prime Minister since February last. What was surprising was the timing of the call from the PMO.

Clearing the air of suspicions, Jagan, soon after the meeting, blurted out the PM’s expediency that drew him to the PMO in an interaction with the waiting media. He said his party would support the BJP’s Presidential candidate. Besides, he was also said to have complained to Modi on how the investigation agencies were subjecting him to harassment allegedly at the instance of CM Naidu.

Is Modi-Jagan meet a sign of the BJP attempts to look for new friends in Andhra Pradesh? T Lakshminarayana, a political analyst, said it is too early to come to such a conclusion two years before the general elections. But it is quite common for a political party to bet on winning horses, he was quick to add.

Meanwhile, the meeting with Modi helped Jaganmohan Reddy reap instant dividends on more than one count. After serving in jail in connection with his alleged involvement in cases of economic offences slapped by the Enforcement Directorate, Jaganmohan Reddy remained in a shell of isolation as if an untouchable in AP politics. Naidu with his manipulative skills managed to let his rival live in isolation. Jagan’s typical style of functioning also contributed to his solitary political life. This image is shattered now, letting Jagan make it clear that he is a force to reckon with for even Modi to lean on.

The manner in which Modi angled for Jagan to push through his own man in the race for the presidential election did not go down well with the TDP. Former Minister and TDP MLC Dokka Manikya Varaprasad said Modi seeking Jagan’s support for the Presidential election without consulting his key alliance partner, TDP, in AP runs counter to the basic tenets of alliance. “Jagan is our main rival in the State.

We were expected to have been taken into confidence before the PM sought his support,” he contended. The hair-thin difference of votes the TDP-BJP combine and the YSRC polled in 2014 general elections seemingly worries the TDP. It was only just 1.29 per cent of votes (hardly 6 lakh) that tilted the scales in favour of the TDP.