Union Minister Amit Shah’s first visit after the formation of the coalition government in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday and Sunday, seems to be focused on strengthening BJP’s alliance with TDP and Jana Sena in the state and moreover to expand the same combination to the neighbouring Telangana state as well.
BJP has been making attempts to expand its presence in Telangana on its own for the last ten years. It was confident to emerge as an political alternative in the state due its sound gross root presence, once the ruling BRS became weak. But, it had never expected that Congress would regain its strength and grab power in the state.
In fact, assembly election results in Telangana disappointed the BJP top leadership. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself blamed party MLAs and MPs recently that it was due to most of leaders being confining to media presences, leaving grass root activism the BJP failing to gain strength in the state. After formation of the Congress government in Telangana, BJP is worrying that if the BRS succeeds in regaining its strength in the state, they will be pushed back again to the state of one or two assembly seats.
Keeping in view of these developments, during his interaction with Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan at Chief Minister’s residence Amit Shah said to discuss the possibility of three parties working together in Telangana also. Though BJP has won three of four Lok Sabha seats in and around Hyderabad city, the party’s central leadership is in doubt on its capacity to win in the forthcoming municipal polls.
Amit Shah felt that with the help of TDP and Jana Sena, it would become easy for the BJP to grab GHMC Mayor post for the first time. It seems that they discussed the strategy to move forward together with the local body elections being held soon in Telangana first. With this, it seems that it has been decided to meet soon in Delhi to decide on the continuation of the alliance in Telangana.
They have also discussed simultaneous elections, increasing of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in two Telugu states. Amit Shah held a private talk before dinner with Chandrababu Naidu for half an hour on the political strategy being followed in two Telugu states.