Visakhapatnam: BJP future. A big ‘?’

Visakhapatnam : The role of the BJP in state politics has become a big question mark. This assumes greater importance not because they can change the electoral fortunes of any candidate but because the political situation in the state is fast changing.

On one hand, Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena has joined the NDA and the BJP announced that it would go to polls in alliance with the JSP. But on other hand, Pawan Kalyan, soon after meeting TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu in Rajamahendravaram central jail, announced that he would have alliance with the TDP in AP polls and expressed confidence that the BJP would also go with them. He felt that their silence at this point of time was strategic.

It is this silence which has led to various types of speculations regarding the alliance between the BJP and the JSP. Will the saffron party agree to join the TDP-JSP alliance or prefer to stay off from the track? This has become the major point of discussion in political circles. Notwithstanding the denial by the state BJP leaders and even some Central leaders, the general impression is that the BJP is still pro-YSRCP.

To wipe off this impression, the BJP leaders led by state president D Purandeswari have been alleging scam in liquor quality and its impact on health of the people in the state. They also said that they would write to the Centre seeking a CBI probe into the scam. She and her team also visited the King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam recently and interacted with patients suffering from liver ailments and also with some doctors on the issue. She alleged that many in the state continue to suffer due to the consumption of cheap alcohol brands.

She also dashed off a letter to the Union Health Minister seeking his intervention into the matter. Earlier, Purandeswari registered her protest by breaking the liquor bottles at Narsapuram. Of late, she is not mincing words to point out the lapses of the state government. But still at the ground level people feel that the BJP has a soft corner towards the ruling YSRCP.

Political circles ask if the BJP did not have soft corner towards YSRCP why did it not act when in July, the BJP state president submitted a representation to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman alleging financial irregularities committed by the AP government and how the YSRCP had driven the state into debts. She had also pointed out the weakening of gram panchayat system affecting development activities. A state-wide agitation was taken out against the same under her leadership.

But, inaction on any of the issues from the Centre, its silence over the arrest of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and the proposal of Pawan Kalyan that all three should go to polls in alliance to avoid split in anti-incumbency votes is keeping the people guessing.

Amidst this scenario, BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao is contemplating to contest from the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency. Even Purandeswari is also said to be in the race for this seat. This has added to confusion even among the rank and file of the BJP. Party leaders say that if the Central leadership continues to be silent, the BJP in AP will never grow.