For BJP in Andhra, a new president is a coded message to Naidu

The Bharatiya Janata Party is unsure in Andhra Pradesh about the path it should take to become a force to reckon with. Even though the party is suffused with the desire to evolve into an independent party in the state during the Modi era, it has not been able to summon the courage to get itself disengaged from dominant Telugu Desam party, which is its ally at the national level and big brother in the state. 

 This party has been groping in the dark for about three months to select a candidate to head the state committee. Every leader in the state is waiting with bated breath for the name of the president the party would announce. They hope that name will come out before the state executive committee meeting, scheduled on June 24 and 25 at Bhimavaram.

The party is caught up in the caste war raging in Andhra Pradesh now, which is said to be the reason for its inability to appoint the president for its AP committee. In Telangana, the party has chosen the president without any brainstorming.  For the first time in its history, Andhra BJP is polarised on caste lines with a strong Kamma lobby and an equally strong Kapu faction vying for state leadership.  A third force, Reddy, though vocally weak, is also rearing its head.

A strong party lobby is said to be at work to ensure the reappointment of incumbent president K Haribabu, an MP from Vizag. The Kapu lobby feels Haribabu is not the right bet if the party wants to evolve into an independent party as he belongs to Kamma, the caste of chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.

The Kapus feel that as long as the party doesn’t take on Naidu’s anti-people policies and misgovernance, it would be difficult for the party to grow into an independent force.  The party high command, which appears to have convinced of the logic, began encouraging the Kapus. As the Kapus are on a war path with ruling TDP, the BJP sees a future if a Kapu is appointed the president of the party.

However, Kammas feel the appointing of a Kapu as president at this juncture would displease chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and disturb the fine balance between the TDP and BJP. The Kamma lobby in the BJP wants Haribabu to continue as president so that Naidu would be happy and the party will be guaranteed of some seats in the Assembly and Lok Sabha the next time as well. Already, Naidu has helped union minister Suresh Prabhu to go to the Rajya Sabha last week.

 To be precise, Kammas want Haribabu to continue as the president while Kapus want a new aggressive president, who can strengthen the party to a level where it can also compete with TDP to form the government. Even though former union minister Purandeswari, also a Kamma, is an aspirant, her family’s rivalry with Chandrababu will militate against her appointment.

 Kapus have floated three names, Kanna Lakshminarayana, Somu Virraju and Akula Satyanarayana, for the post of the party president.

Appointing any of these leaders is bound to displease Naidu and it would slowly lead to a confrontation between the NDA partners. In the same breath, appointing Haribabu would dampen the spirit of those leaders who want BJP to emerge a big force in the state.  

The third option for the party is selecting a Reddy from Rayalaseema as the party president. The argument from Rayalaseema is that since all MLAs, MLCs and MP are from coastal Andhra, the post of party president should go to someone for the region. Though the names of Challapalli Narasimha Reddy and National committee member Santha Reddy are doing the rounds, they stand little chance as Reddys are seen as a force in decline after the division of the state.

“We are expecting the party to announce the name of the new president before June 24, when the state committee is scheduled to meet,” said party vice president P Kapileswaraiah.

The appointment of the party president is expected to reveal what Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda for the BJP in AP is - whether to become a strong force independent of TDP or to continue as a minor ally of Naidu.