Waiting for BJP, Naidu-Pawan Kalyan alliance faces turbulence: seat-sharing delay to vote transfer concern

The leaders of both allies have since skipped coordination committee meetings, and even resorted to fist fights. Both parties also unilaterally announced two Assembly poll candidates each.

On January 26, Kalyan alleged Naidu “did not follow coalition dharma” when the TDP chief announced candidates for the Mandapeta and Araku Assembly seats without consulting the JSP. He then also announced that his party would contest the Razole and Rajanagaram Assembly seats.

While both Naidu and Kalyan have called their alliance the “need of the hour in the interest of the state”, sources said the seat-sharing between their parties is getting trickier, especially in the two Godavari districts – East and West.

According to sources, there are about 20 Assembly constituencies where the two parties are struggling to reach a consensus. These seats include Rajahmundry Rural, Gannavaram, Pithapuram, Kakinada Rural, Eluru and Tadepalligudem.

JSP leaders claim that the Godavari districts are their strongholds and compromising on these seats will not be in the party’s interests. “Despite not winning seats in 2019, we fared well in these areas and have been working hard here since then. To part with these seats now would be detrimental to the party’s prospects as well as the alliance’s,” a JSP office-bearer from East Godavari said.

The cadre of both parties are also wary of the delay in finalising their seats. “On one hand, CM Jagan (Mohan Reddy) has released multiple lists and is moving ahead with his Siddham campaign, we are still unsure of the candidates,” a TDP activist from Rajahmundry said.

Another TDP leader said the party was not leaving room for damage control after the list of candidates is announced. “There will inevitably be problems when the candidates are announced as some leaders would be miffed. With the elections so close, the leadership will not have time to prevent them from working against us,” he said.

However, TDP national spokesperson Jyothsna Tirunagari dismissed such apprehensions. “In an alliance, there are bound to be minor tussles between partners, even on issues of seat-sharing. While Jagan is only announcing in-charges just to test the waters, we are making a comprehensive list while taking into account ground-level workers’ opinion. The alliance list was to come out by February 20 but some niggling issues are causing the delay. The candidate list and common manifesto will be out by the end of this month,” she said while refraining from specifying the constituents of the alliance.

One of the key reasons being cited for the TDP and JSP’s delay in finalising their seat-sharing and candidates’ list is the “BJP’s pending decision regarding joining the alliance”.

TDP insiders said following Naidu’s meeting with top BJP leaders in Delhi last month, the alliance has been finalised and that just its announcement is pending. They said the TDP has offered 5-6 Lok Sabha seats (out of a total of 25 LS seats) and 40 Assembly constituencies (out of 175 Assembly seats) to the BJP-JSP combine. The BJP has sought 10 seats for the Lok Sabha polls, sources said.

Tirunagari said “political discussions” have taken place and that there would be clarity in a few days. “Our leader (Naidu) had spoken to top BJP leaders and apprised them of the situation in the state. An announcement on the same will come out in the next couple of days,” she said. She pointed out that the JSP is already a part of the BJP-led NDA.

Currently, the BJP does not have even a single MLA or MP in the state. In the 2019 Assembly polls, the party polled only 0.9% of the votes, fewer than NOTA which got 1.5%.

Another concern that both the TDP and the JSP leaders voiced was regarding transfer of votes. They said it was unclear if their core base will vote for the alliance partners. “The alliance is in place but we are still not sure if our voters will vote for the JSP candidate in seats where its candidates contest. Also, with the picture unclear about the BJP, the voter is looking more confused,” a TDP leader said.