The formation of Telugu Desam Party-Jana Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party alliance may look formidable at the top level, but it seems to be on a weak footing at the field level, going by the disgruntlement among the leaders and cadres of all the three parties.
At a time when TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan are sharing dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the first rally of the NDA these elections at Chilakaluripet in Palnadu district on Sunday, there is a simmering discontent among the BJP cadres.
A group of BJP leaders have written letter to Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah expressing discontent over the allotment of seats to the BJP in Andhra Pradesh as part of alliance and selection of candidates.
They warned that if the BJP agrees for this formula, the party is going to face yet another backstabbing by the TDP president.
They have strongly opposing the seats allotted to the BJP, saying that most of them were the strong bastions of the YSRCP and the BJP has little chances of winning them.
“Naidu knows that the TDP cannot win there. So, he has allotted them to the BJP so as to make it a scapegoat. Of course, there are a few seats allotted to to the BJP, where it can win, but the candidates selected are indirectly associated with the TDP in the past,” they said.
They said it appears Naidu himself has played a key role in the selection of these candidates of the BJP, in collusion with some leaders in AP. In a way, the TDP chief has ensured that they might jump into the TDP after the formation of the government, they pointed out.
The signatories to the letter and which leaders they were targeting are not yet known, but the letter has created ripples in the party ahead of Modi’s visit.
It remains to be seen how the BJP national leadership looks at the letter.