Vijayawada, January 16, 2023: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has set the ambitious target of expanding its footprint in Andhra Pradesh, finds itself in a predicament as its state unit has conveyed the message of a leadership crisis and underlined the lack of support for the party from politically dominant castes.
People aware of the details said the central leadership has been briefed about the challenges the BJP will face in the assembly elections next year in the absence of leaders from the dominant castes that wield clout in the state, where its vote share is dismal.
“At present there is a dedicated vote bank for the regional parties, whether it is the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) or the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). The BJP is relying on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and on support from Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party. It needs to find support among the dominant communities and attract faces that can pull votes,” said a senior party functionary, requesting anonymity.
A section of Andhra Pradesh unit leaders has also broached the subject of replacing the incumbent state chief Somu Veeraju, citing intra-party difference and lack of popular support for him, the functionary said.
“If the party has to pitch itself as an alternative, then there have to be leaders on the ground who can draw crowds and instill confidence in the voters. As an opposition, we have not been able to raise critical issues, such as people being deprived of free ration from the Centre and houses under the PM Awas Yojana,” the functionary added.
In September last year, the BJP carried out public meetings at 5,000 places spread across all 26 districts in the state and intensified the membership drive. At present, the BJP does not have a single legislator in the 175-member assembly while its vote share in the previous assembly elections was less than 1%. The party also did not win any of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections.
The BJP wants to carve out a space for itself without relying on allies. In the past, the TDP was an ally of the BJP and was part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In 2018, the N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP broke ties with the BJP and announced its exit from the NDA. The BJP leadership has ruled out the possibility of an alliance with the TDP again.
“The BJP needs to create a vote bank of its own. Though the central government’s policies focus on empowerment of the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), in the state, the OBCs are divided between the YSRCP and the TDP,” said the functionary according to the reports published in hindustantimes.com.
“There is a feeling that the Kammas — constituting about 6% of the electorate — are totally with the TDP and Reddys (8%) are with the Congress and the YSRCP. Both these communities are powerful, entrepreneurial and have the ability to sway others because of their influence. We have to find ways of bringing these two together (with us),” the functionary added.
The BJP is also vying with the regional satraps for winning the support of the politically dominant Kapus that are about 15% of the electorate. “A section of Kapus is with the Jana Sena, so the BJP is counting on them. While we have representatives from all of these communities, we need to do more,” the functionary said.
A second leader said the party has been attempting to woo the Kapus by bringing up the issue of reservation for them. The BJP has blamed the TDP and the YSRCP for not ensuring reservation for the community by bringing it into the ambit of backward castes.
