Alliance with TDP, JanaSena a ‘case study’: Andhra Pradesh BJP chief Daggubati Purandeswari

New Delhi: Even as speculation is rife over a BJP-TDP tussle over more cabinet berths and Lok Sabha Speaker’s chair, BJP‘s Andhra Pradesh unit president Daggubati Purandeswari maintained that the TDP-JanaSena-BJP alliance is a “case study” in how coalitions should work and that it will hold strong both at the state and Centre level.The state president said so even though the BJP was a late entrant to the alliance and Pawan Kalyan-led JanaSena Party had already taken the lead stitching up a partnership with the TDP in 2023 while Chandrababu Naidu was in jail.

“BJP joined the alliance much later, in January-February this year. However, we have excellent coordination mechanisms in the alliance at all levels, from assembly to parliamentary constituency levels. This has helped immensely in ensuring a consolidated electoral approach and will certainly also ensure a comprehensive governance approach. In fact, I would term this alliance a case study in itself,” Purandeswari told ET in New Delhi.

“The reason for the synergy is also because the alliance partners are similar in terms of ideological values. BJP is committed to the principle of ‘Antayodya’ and ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. TDP’s ideology calls people ‘god-like’ and society as the ‘main temple’. So is the case with JanaSena which firmly puts the common man at the centre. So, all partners have a similar ideology and that is what binds us together,” the new MP from Rajahmundry added.

She also underlined other commonalities of the partners such as equal commitment to implementation of the AP Reorganization Act and ensuring due financial benefits to the state.

“Even earlier, the BJP-led central government was committed to ensuring the due finances are made available to Andhra Pradesh. A special status is not possible due to the bar placed by the 15th Finance Commission. However, a special package was agreed upon in 2017. The state government then proposed routing it through a ‘Special Purpose Vehicle’. However, this SPV was not set up then and not even under the outgoing YSR Congress government. So, if the SPV model is revived now and it is duly set up, this funding to Andhra is bound to flow through,” she assured.On the possible areas of difference of opinion between the alliance – the minority question – given that Muslims are a significant population segment in Andhra and a support base for TDP, Purandeswari maintained that her party is only against religion-based reservation and does not discriminate against any minority.