Why KCR may want TDP-BJP truck; why is it win-win for YS Jagan

HYDERABAD: Telangana Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo K Chandrashekar Rao must really be wishing that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cosies up with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Telangana for the next year's elections.

If that comes true, it would surely irk Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. But, it's indeed a win-win situation for him, politically.

Why does KCR desire a TDP-BJP electoral understanding? There are quite a few reasons for this.

In fact, this was prompted by Health Minister and BRS strongman T Harish Rao at a press conference, along with a couple of other ministers, on Thursday. In a bid to give a rebuttal to the claims made by TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, the Health Minister of Telangana derided the "false claims" of the former. In the process, he came up with a taunt that's indeed tantamount to suggesting that a BJP-TDP tie-up would be a possibility. Though Harish Rao said the TDP chief's utterances were intended at "pleasing the BJP bosses" and wangling a request for a poll truck, he apparently blurted it out only to offer an advice to both parties to join hands together.

The TDP amassed a lot of discredit in Telangana as it was portrayed as an 'Andhra' party and would do no good to the people of Telangana.

This notion was successfully entrenched in the minds of the people of Telangana by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and that clicked. In fact, the TDP is almost dead in Telangana. However, after KCR chose to widen the scope and horizons of the political activity of his party, he rechristened it as BRS and is working on the national plans for the party. Taking cue from this, Chandrababu Naidu appointed a rich man Kasani Gnaneshwar as the president of the TDP's Telangana unit. With a view to starting the party from the scratch, Naidu organised a public meeting at Khammam. The TDP won only two Assembly seats in the elections in 2018 in Telangana and those two were from Khammam district. It's with this reason and also with an eye on capitalising on the advantage of huge presence of people belonging to his caste that Naidu chose Khammam for his show.

This came in handy for the BRS. The underlying parochial approach of Naidu could be exposed and this would restrict his spread, if at all, only to a few pockets. Chandrababu Naidu's exit from Hyderabad, then common capital for Andhra and Telangana, was "disgraceful" following an expose of "cash for vote" scandal. This keeps on haunting Naidu and is used politically by the YSR Congress as well as the BRS consistently.

Naidu, who has been terribly embarrassed, nursed a grievance against KCR. As a sequel to that, he wanted to wreak political vengeance against his former protege. He had fallen apart with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and walked out of the National Democratic Alliance and joined hands with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and formed a grand alliance (Mahakutami) to take on KCR who went it alone to polls. As ill-luck stared at him, his political calculations went totally wrong and the alliance faced a total rout in Telangana while KCR's TRS posted a resounding victory. For sure, KCR knew the Congress was wrecked so badly, thanks to its alliance with the TDP.

Now that the BJP is trying to aim for the proverbial moon and it could get dropped in stars, KCR must be strongly wishing that the TDP should enter into a poll pact with the BJP. If that happens, KCR's renewed term for a third time would be easy. For, any tie-up with TDP would spell doom to the BJP in Telangana.

If this truck didn't come true, the BRS would benefit due to the split of anti-incumbency vote.

Why is it a win-win for YS Jagan?

YSR Congress party's supremo Y S Jaganmohan Reddy as recently as a month ago announced in a public meeting in Visakhapatnam in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he had no qualms about remaining friends with the Prime Minister. In the larger interest of the State of Andhra Pradesh, the YSR Congress would maintain cordial relations with the Centre.

If the BJP entered into a pact with the TDP in Telangana, it becomes obvious for Jagan that he would have to fight the same combo in Andhra Pradesh too. In such an event, he always will have an option to side with his most favourite leader KCR, as openly announced by Jagan himself before the 2019 elections in a TV interview. That makes the BRS doubly strong.

If the BJP tried to play cool and look the other way for the proposal being repeatedly mooted by the TDP's crony media houses, Jagan would face no discomfort and he would stay agnostic to the BRS and keep his "respect" for KCR within himself. That lets him an opportunity to play his cards well, post elections.

Pawan Kalyan's Janasena would avowedly play second fiddle to the TDP, as pronounced by the actor himself. If Pawan Kalyan goes with the TDP, his purported Kapu vote bank would surely go against the Janasena-TDP alliance and continue to sail with Jagan. If the TDP announces that Pawan Kalyan would be the combo's Chief Ministerial nominee, the entire flock of the TDP voters would get disenchanted and may veer towards Jagan. If they both fight the elections independently, it's again advantage Jagan.

Thus a BJP-TDP alliance or not, it will be a win-win for Jagan.

As things stand, there may not be much change in the political equations between different parties.