In the last week of April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in public meetings in Zaheerabad in Telangana, Munger in Bihar, Pune in Maharashtra, and Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh. In the first three days of May, he addressed crowds in Krishnanagar in West Bengal and Singhbhum in Jharkhand. What’s common among all these constituencies is that they will go to polls in the fourth phase of parliamentary elections slated to be held on May 13.
However, the PM is yet to visit another state—Andhra Pradesh— which will witness polling on the same day. Modi last visited AP in March during a combined meeting of NDA partners, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and actor Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP).
Modi’s impending visit was scheduled for May 3 and May 4, but the tour was deferred.
BJP’s second-in-command and Home Minister, Amit Shah, is yet to step into the state in this poll season, although he has made his presence felt in neighbouring Telangana.
As per the communication received by the state BJP unit, the PM will visit the state on May 7, only after visiting Odisha, which has a lower number of MP seats than AP. One reason for the top leadership giving less priority to AP may be because it has no representation from the coastal Telugu state. However, it has also given rise to speculations that the central leadership of the party is not completely comfortable backing the poll narrative set by its regional allies, the TDP, and the JSP.
A few days back, a common manifesto was unveiled by the TDP national president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, and JSP President, Pawan Kalyan, whose images adorned the front pages of the manifesto. Surprisingly, the face of NDA, Modi, was missing from the manifesto. Also missing on stage was the state president of the BJP party, D. Purandeswari. The leader who mattered the most from BJP was AP BJP co-incharge, Sidharth Nath Singh, who refused to hold the copy of the manifesto in front of the media.
TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan during the release of manifesto of NDA alliance in Andhra Pradesh | PTI
Since his actions resulted in a controversy with the ruling YSRCP quickly alleging that the BJP did not endorse the manifesto, Singh issued a clarification. He said that the NDA had already released a national-level manifesto. Hence, the BJP’s role was limited to supporting the manifesto that was drafted by the JSP and TDP.
The contents of the joint manifesto do not exactly align with the spirit of the vision of Modi and NDA. To start with, the alliance is loaded with promises of introducing various welfare schemes catering to different sections of the state. Some of them are Rs 3,000 monthly unemployment allowance to youth, Rs 15,000 annually for every school student, Rs 20,000 financial assistance to farmers, Rs 1,500 monthly pension to women, and free bus travel for women across the state.
Political analysts have raised concerns about the high expenditure that would be incurred by the state treasury to implement the promises and wondered if the BJP was on the same page. The TDP and JSP’s idea of welfare is in contradiction to Modi’s stance of being against freebies or ‘Revdi’ culture.
The TDP and JSP have also promised in their manifesto that they will repeal the Land Titling Act brought in by the YSRCP government. The alliance leaders have been alleging that YSRCP leaders want to usurp the lands of the poor through this act. The YSRCP has hit back, reminding the alliance that they were only following the guidelines issued by the central government.
Senior BJP leaders have so far been mum on the issue. The land titling act was borne out of the central government’s move to reduce litigation in land ownership. The NITI Aayog framed a draft bill and sent it to states, and AP became one of the first states to implement it by taking up a re-survey of the lands. The idea is to have conclusive land titles that will be recognized by the respective state government in case of disputes and compensations. The TDP’s efforts to ban the Act may work against the NDA's idea of land reforms.
The TDP and the BJP are also on different sides when it comes to Muslim reservations. Of late, Naidu has been vocal about preserving 4% reservation for Muslims in AP under the OBC quota. In contrast, PM Modi has also been vocal about removing the Muslim reservations. The local chapter of the BJP leaders too are against Naidu’s poll assurance. Meanwhile, a section of the senior BJP leaders is upset with the party as they feel that TDP is dominating the campaign and working as per its interests.
