Hyderabad: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP ticket hopefuls in Andhra Pradesh are wary of the 'outsiders' who could be given tickets to fight the elections instead of them.
There is a worry that the six Lok Sabha seats and 10 Assembly seats allotted to the BJP as part of the tripartite alliance, between the BJP-TPD and the Jana Sena, could go to leaders who joined the party from TDP in the last few years.
The party's 'originals' wrote a letter to national president JP Nadda in this regard and claimed it was the voice of 'lakhs of karyakartas in the state'. Though there has been no official announcement about the contestants, rumours are doing the rounds that the 'outsiders' could be given the tickets.
Irrespective of what segments BJP would field candidates, leaders think that names of party state unit president Daggubati Purandeswari, YV Chowdhary, CM Ramesh, GVL Narasimha Rao, Kothapalli Geetha, K Ratnaprabha, Y Satyakumar, N Kiran Kumar Reddy are being considered for the Lok Sabha segments by the central leadership.
“The parliament and assembly seat allotment does not have a winning opportunity for the BJP or even the TDP. The seats allocated to the BJP is nothing but backstabbing. The seats allocated to the party are the ones that the TDP never won in the past. Similarly, weak assembly seats were also given to us. Though the state unit of BJP submitted a list of candidates who had been working for several decades, they were not considered. The candidates who are said to be selected are suspected to be hand in glove with the TDP. Expecting an alliance, TDP shifted its leaders to BJP. So that they can keep the cadre happy as well as do some damage to the BJP,” read the letter signed by at least nine AP state committee office bearers, to Nadda.
While they do not have any issues with leaders like Purandheswari, Satya Kumar, GVL Narasimha Rao, and others, sources said reservations were expressed towards YS Chowdhary and CM Ramesh, who joined the BJP from TDP in 2019.
Chowdhary, the then TDP Rajya Sabha member, soon after the 2019 polls had led a 'merger' of TD Legislature Party (TDLP) into the BJP Parliamentary party in the upper house. He along with CM Ramesh continued as BJP members in the Rajya Sabha until their tenure ended.
The 'originals' leaders allege that Chowdhary and Ramesh, who are long-time aides of Naidu, will work for TDP rather than the BJP.
“It is now Naidu's responsibility to ensure that his cadre supports whoever BJP fields in the elections. Whether it's Ramesh or Chowdhary or someone else it will be the choice of BJP central leadership. Naidu will have little or no role in picking BJP candidates. He will have to ensure TDP's support and win for BJP candidates. When there is an opportunity to win seats and if they are being captured by 'outsiders' it's natural for those within the party for decades to feel sidelined,” political commentator Duggaraju Srinivas told DH.