Elections in Andhra: Why NaMo is missing from NDA leaders’ speeches
Every party in Andhra, including the BJP, knows that the resentment among the people towards Modi has not died down in the state
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may be the primary face of the BJP campaign across most parts of India, but certainly not in Andhra Pradesh. For the NDA partners in this southern state — Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena, and even the local BJP — the narrative is more about defeating YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy than about exploiting Modi’s charisma.
BJP speeches
Take the example of CM Ramesh, the BJP candidate from Anakapalli Lok Sabha Constituency. Addressing a meeting in Pendurthi recently, Ramesh urged the foot soldiers of the BJP-TDP-Jana Sena alliance to take the message of six guarantees announced by TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu to every household. He asserted that the state would progress only when the “demon called Jagan” was driven out.
Ramesh, a former TDP Rajya Sabha member, joined BJP after the 2019 Assembly election when TDP lost to YSR Congress Party. He made no reference to PM Modi in his speech.
Similarly, state BJP president Daggubati Purandeswari, who is contesting from Rajahmundry Lok Sabha constituency, has also been sparing in her use of PM Modi’s name in the campaign. In her meetings, Purandeswari delves deep into the “failures” of the Reddy government. Without invoking Modi’s name, she harps on the need to have a “double-engine government”, i.e. NDA governments at the Centre and the state.
Allies mum on Modi
Naidu and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan do not seem too keen on exploiting Modi’s popularity in their campaigns either. Addressing public meetings in Amadalavalasa and Gajapathinagaram in Srikakulam district on April 23, Naidu also spoke about “Reddy’s failures” and his commitment to implement the six assurances. Not once did he refer to PM Modi.
Similarly, Pawan Kalyan spoke at length in Uppada in Kakinada district on the need to defeat Jagan. Conspicuously absent in his speech was the name of Modi.
Modi’s name is recited with vigour only during the visits of central BJP leaders to the state that goes to polls simultaneously for Lok Sabha and the Assembly on May 13.
Why the caution?
So, why are NDA parties so frugal in their use of Modi’s name in their campaign? Is it an oversight, or is it deliberate? Observers feel it is deliberate.
Every party in Andhra, including the BJP, knows that the resentment among the people towards Modi has not died down in the state. So, they are wary of invoking his name in their campaign.
Both the Congress and the BJP were seen as being responsible for the bifurcation of the state in 2014, much against the wishes of the people. The state lost the capital Hyderabad to Telangana and was denied Special Category Status (SCS) as compensation.
People’s punishment
In the subsequent elections, both the national parties were punished badly. Not only did they fail to win a single seat in the Assembly and Lok Sabha, their vote shares also plummeted to below one per cent.
The BJP’s vote share nosedived from 7.22 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to 0.98 per cent in 2019. The saffron party had won four Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats in alliance with TDP and Jana Sena in 2014. But in 2019, it drew a blank in both Assembly and Lok Sabha.
Not only that, in the subsequent urban and rural local body elections, too, it failed to make a mark. It could not even retain the lone Vizag seat in the MLC elections to the Graduate constituencies. The “Modi wave” sweeping the nation could not save the BJP from drowning in Andhra.
Vizag steel plant
Vallampalli Lakshman Reddy of Jana Chaitanya Vedika, a civil society organization, said a lot of negativities were attached to Modi’s name in Andhra Pradesh.
“People are angry with Modi for two reasons. One, he made false promises, and two, he is trying to privatize the Vizag steel plant, which was achieved after spilling a lot of blood,” he said.
According to him, no political party in the state wants to invite the people’s ire by invoking Modi’s name in the election campaign.
Denial of SCS
Chalasani Srinivas, the convener of Andhra Pradesh Intellectuals’ Forum, sees a conspiracy in the denial of SCS to Andhra Pradesh. “Modi’s 10-year rule has made a vibrant Andhra a laggard among Indian states. Modi is wilfully preventing Andhra from becoming a rival to Gujarat by denying SCS,” he said.
In the view of Chalasani Narendra, a political commentator from Andhra, Modi is too unpopular among the masses.
“Every promise he made — from SCS to grants to backward regions — has been broken under one pretext or the other. He could not save the capital Amaravati when Jagan destroyed it. So, talking about Modi will do more damage than promote the NDA’s cause in the elections,” he said.
“Soft corner” for Reddy?
TDP cadres are also not happy with Modi for his stand on Chief Minister Reddy. They suspect the PM has a soft corner for Reddy. Citing the public meeting held in Chilakaluripeta on March 17, the first after the TDP-Jana Sena-BJP alliance was struck, a TDP leader recalled how the PM had branded only ministers as looters in his speech.
“His sparing of Jagan while talking about corruption has not gone down well with our cadre,” said a TDP leader. He also said the alliance with BJP was struck out of political compulsion. “It is only to ensure free and fair elections with the help of the Election Commission. Talking highly of Modi will backfire in Andhra,” he added.
However, BJP circles are upbeat over the Andhra situation. The ultimate beneficiary of Andhra elections is the BJP, commented a BJP leader. “Irrespective of the seats we win, or Naidu or Jagan get to win, all Lok Sabha seats (25) are ours. They will have no choice but to support Modi’s government,” claimed a BJP leader who did not want to be named.
