By Sushil Kutty
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on July 5. Reddy also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the third time in six months. One surmise is word travels fast and the BJP’s “Pawar-play” in Maharashtra has left all parties nervous. Including political parties which appeared in harmony with the Narendra Modi government.
Like the YSRCP. Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has been playing safe and cool with the Modi government while steering clear of electoral understanding with the BJP. In fact, CM Reddy is on record that YSRCP is “independent” and did not depend on other parties to win elections.
And the BJP respected Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sentiments. Modi and Shah have dutifully ensured that the BJP’s unwarranted attention never crossed the YSRCP’s “lakshman rekha’. There’s no electoral alliance, but the YSRCP regularly and without fail votes with the BJP in the Rajya Sabha on every “BJP bill”.
The quid pro quo is Reddy gets ready access to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. On Wednesday, too, Reddy met the Finance Minister and it was all in all a fruitful day in Delhi for the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, who unlike his flamboyant and haughty TDP rival, N Chandrababu Naidu, is respectful-personified, a regular first citizen of Andhra Pradesh.
And despite the Modi-Shah induced-tremors in various political parties, Jagan Mohan Reddy appeared in harmony with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, two of the most distrustful politicians in recent memory. Like they say in Trump’s USA, Jagan Mohan Reddy has their number!
At the meetings with the BJP bigwigs, Reddy asked for funds meant for Andhra Pradesh be released forthwith and promises made at the time of “Partition’ be kept. There are other pending issues but financial support for Andhra Pradesh has always topped the list of Reddy demands, which will reap Lok Sabha seats for YSRCP in 2024.
In 2019, the YSRCP bagged 22 of the 25 Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha seats. A repeat performance cannot be ruled out in 2024 though the TDP has its own game-plan with the BJP playing its part. A friendly YSRCP, however, works both ways for the BJP, especially when the goal is to install Narendra Modi Prime Minister for another five years.
As long as the Reddy government keeps getting funds without any hitches and glitches, there will be a friendly understanding between the two parties. And even if the BJP has appointed a new state unit President, NTR’s daughter D Purandeswari isn’t going to set the Godavari on fire. The BJP will continue to play ‘straggler’ to YSRCP’s ‘frontrunner’. Reports say the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister demanded the completion of the multi-purpose Polavaram irrigation project.
Leader of the Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, Chandrababu Naidu has also demanded quick completion. But Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s meetings with Modi and Shah have their own significance. The BJP can do with all the “outside support” it can get in 2024. Winning another term for Narendra Modi is a non-negotiable article of faith with the current BJP. A hat-trick for Modi is a hat-trick for the entire Sangh Parivar, for which a lot remains to be done “before we sleep”.
Also, the BJP does not want to see “fence-sitter parties” in 2024. And this is not just to pass legislation in Rajya Sabha. In recent days, the BJP appeared to be getting tough with the YSRCP even as Naidu dug his heels in outside the BJP headquarters. Speculation built whether there would be a BJP-TDP alliance? But nothing of the sort happened. The BJP does not want to rock the boat. At one time Jagan Mohan Reddy had his own corruption woes to battle and he spent time in jail. But it is not worth the trouble to do an NCP/Sena on the YSRCP when there is a “harmonious” relationship with Reddy.
The YSRCP is not in the NDA, and neither has it ever declared that it is a BJP ally and Modi and Shah will have to live with this arrangement. The “Pawar-play” in Maharashtra and the BJP’s shady hand in it may have left political parties nervous, but it is unlikely that the YSRCP has been browbeaten for Jagan Mohan Reddy to make a dash to Delhi. There is nothing that M/s Modi & Shah’s “ICE” can pin on leaders like Jagan Reddy and Naveen Patnaik to give them sleepless nights. (IPA Service)