Even as two erstwhile allies — the Telugu Desam Party and the BJP were trying to re-ignite their friendship and reach an understanding before the elections, a peculiar situation has arised, in which an actor — a greenhorn to politics — has emerged as a matchmaker.
According to the informed sources, the leaders of both the parties were in touch with mercurial actor Pawan Kalyan to reach an amicable settlement on how many seats the BJP should get in both the lok Sabha and the State Assembly elections.
Sources said that the figure suggested by the BJP to its senior partner was around 40 to 45 Assembly Seats and 10 to 17 lS seats in both Telangana and Seemandhra region.
As the actor himself has made it clear that his newly launched “Jana Sena” will not be contesting the elections this time but he was trying to help in formation of a formidable alliance against the Congress party, both the parties were hoping that they could benefit from the campaign by the star.
The reports of the State leaders of both the BJP and the TDP talking to the actor have come in the backdrop of the actor’s visit to New Delhi where he was likely to meet BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who will be the final arbitrator of the deal with the TDP.
BJP national spokesperson Parkash Javdekar, who was in Hyderabad to talk to the party leaders as well as to a play mediator for the Telugu Desam Party, told the media in New Delhi that he will speak on the alliance issue on his next visit to Hyderabad. Sources said that he was expected to arrive in the city in a couple of days with a clearer picture.
Telangana BJP leaders, who were not in favour of alliance with the TDP, were demanding at least half of the 119 Assembly seats and a lion’s share of 11 of the 17 lok Sabha constituencies.
Pointing out that in 2004 elections the TDP had given the BJP nine lok Sabha and 27 Assembly seats, the State BJP leader has made it clear to the central leadership this time that the party should demand a larger number of seats in view of the completely changed political situation.
“TDP at the time was a ruling party and today it is in a very weak position having lost the power a decade ago”, said a BJP leader from Telangana. He also claimed that even RSS, the patron of the BJP was against the idea of an alliance with the TDP now.
Despite strong resistance from part of Telangana leadership of the BJP, the national leaders were keen to reach an understanding with the TDP in Seemandhra and Telangana as it will bring the party back in to reckoning.
Without a strong local ally, the BJP does not figure in any serious contest in the state and all the major opinion polls have shown the party in a very poor light. However the TDP-BJP alliance was largely expected to do well and yield a few crucial lok Sabha seats for the BJP.
Interestingly Nizamabad and Secunderabad are the seats which figure in the BJP’s list for Telangana. While Secunderabad has become a bone of contention between veteran backward class leader Bandaru Dattatreya, who won the seats twice in the past, and the young state BJP leader from Reddy community G Kishan Reddy, Nizamabad has suddenly shot in to prominence as national BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar’s name was being tipped as party candidate.
Nizamabad, bordering Maharashtra is presently represented by Madhu Yashki of Congress and TRS was also keen to field a strong candidate from here. BJP fancies a chance for itself here because its candidate had won Nizamabad assembly segment in the last elections. Secondly the lok Sabha constituency has 12% Marahati speaking voters. Thirdly Prakash Javdekar by being in the forefront to raise the voice in support of Telangana in Parliament has created a niche for himself.
As far as Seemandhra is concerned the BJP was keen in getting at least five to six lok Sabha constituencies including Visakhapatanam, Vijaywada, Narsaraopet, and at least one constituency in Godavari belt like Narsapuram or Rajahmundry. The candidates list includes K Hari Babu, President of Seemandhra unit of BJP, D Purandeswari, former union minister and Congress turncoat, and film actor UV Krishnamraju among others.
However TDP was unlikely to give both Vishakhapatanam and Vijaywada to its junior partner and likely to retain Vijaywada for itself forcing the BJP to look for another seat for Purandeswari, a persona non grata for Chandrababu Naidu.