When the meeting of the Telugu Desam Party was going on in Vijayawada, BJP leaders in Andhra Pradesh were glued to television sets to know the outcome. Knowing Chandrababu Naidu’s style of realpolitik, they knew he wouldn’t do anything in a hurry. Instead, he would use the presence of a huge media contingent to mount pressure on the central BJP leadership to reconsider the raw deal meted out to Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget. 

A TDP MP was to later gloat that things went according to plan. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called up Naidu in the midst of the meeting after which it was decided the TDP won’t precipitate the situation. All it would do is to indulge in theatrics of protest inside Parliament in order to let the people of Andhra know they are fighting on their behalf against their own ally. Meanwhile, the Centre has all of next week to decide how it can assuage Naidu so that he does not walk out of the NDA. 

“We are giving the BJP a last chance, they must offer something substantial,” said Rammohan Naidu, a TDP MP. “Whenever we have made a noise behind closed doors, they said they will address the issue. Now our patience is running thin. If it does not work, it means they do not value us as alliance partners.”

In the strange world of politics, while the central BJP heaves a sigh of relief that Naidu has been mollified for now, not everyone in the BJP unit is happy. A majority of the leaders of the saffron party in Andhra have no love lost for their alliance partner and only a handful are seen as pro-Naidu. 

The group, that would prefer the BJP to chart its own course in Andhra Pradesh, said it is an uncomfortable alliance. “If we fight another election with Naidu, be sure he will bury the BJP in Andhra Pradesh,” said a senior BJP leader who did not want to be named. “Those who are supporting continuation of the alliance are Team BJP only in name. In their heart and soul, they are Team Chandrababu.”

Senior BJP leader and MLC Soma Veerraju accuses the TDP of undercutting the national party at every stage. 

“Take the example of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Will you find PM Narendra Modi’s photograph in the backdrop? No. Instead you will only have Chandrababu Naidu and Municipal Administration minister P Narayana’s pictures,” pointed out Veerraju. 

But what should worry the BJP is how the common man on the street perceives the party. A pointer was the manner in which the Facebook page of the Andhra BJP was littered with critical comments soon after the Budget. Social media users accused the party of neither delivering on the promise to accord special category status nor acting on the Railway zone in Visakhapatnam. Some others threatened that Andhra will do to the BJP what it did to the Congress, which has no MP or MLA in the state now — seen as punishment for having divided the state. 

“What even literate people do not understand is that the AP Reorganisation Act only said it will examine the establishment of the Railway zone in the state. It is a technical issue that was examined by a committee and was not found to be feasible. People need to know the facts before criticising the BJP,” said Vishnu Kumar Raju, leader of the BJP Legislature party in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. 

The BJP feels this is deliberate mischief by elements from other political parties to spoil the party name. But with the state unit seen as a weak force politically, with no pan-Andhra leader, there is little choice but to tag along with the TDP. 

But the TDP would be quite happy to delink itself from the BJP. It knows that the patience of Andhrites is wearing thin. The common man not only lost the capital city of Hyderabad but investments in an industrially underdeveloped Andhra are not picking up to generate sufficient jobs. At a time when anti-incumbency is setting in and Naidu is unable to deliver on his grandiose and extremely expensive Amaravati capital city and Polavaram irrigation projects, the TDP is desperate to find a scapegoat. 

Having built up the narrative of the BJP giving Andhra Pradesh the cold shoulder through the last four years, the TDP’s plan is to pin the blame for its inability to fulfil its promises on the Centre. Just like the Congress in 2014, the BJP could be a punching bag in 2019. 

“Naidu is unnecessarily aggravating the issue. It is part of their political strategy. If they feel the BJP is a liability, let them go out of the alliance,” said Raju. 

Which is why leaders, who moved into the BJP from the Congress after 2014, are beginning to wonder if the party offers them any scope for growth. Former Union Minister Purandareswari, for instance, is at loggerheads with brother-in-law Chandrababu Naidu, their animosity going back to the time when her father NT Rama Rao was overthrown by Naidu. 

The BJP central leadership may appoint a new president for the Andhra unit soon. But if the current chief, Vizag MP K Haribabu, continues in his job, it will mean status quo for the BJP-TDP alliance. Unless the TDP finds a reason to reject what New Delhi has to offer and opts to divorce the BJP.