Poll pact with BJP uncertain post Telangana Bill nod: TDP

Seething over BJP's support to the Telangana Bill in Parliament, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has indicated its reluctance about going in for an alliance with the national party in the upcoming general elections.
Although the regional party had made no official announcement about entering into an alliance with BJP, the ground had appeared set for the coming together of the one- time allies after TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu established a rapport with Narendra Modi over the last few months.
TDP was banking heavily on BJP to somehow stall the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, which provides for the creation of a separate Telangana state. The party had cited the "injustice" meted out to Seemandhra region as the reason behind its opposition to the Bill.

TDP -- or the Seemandhra section of it at least -- is angry that BJP "facilitated" the smooth passage of the Bill without extracting any concrete guarantees for the residuary state.
"BJP is as guilty as Congress for leaving the residual Andhra Pradesh a bankrupt state. Coming generations will suffer heavily because of this. Without realising this, BJP has settled for a package deal (for Seemandhra) which is nothing but eyewash," TDP Politburo member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu had charged yesterday.
TDP has already started a campaign projecting Congress and BJP as the "main villains" in the bifurcation of the state.

The main opposition in AP conducted a survey over the last three-four days on whether it would be beneficial for itself to forge an alliance with the saffron outfit.

"The result (of the survey) is negative. People of Seemandhra are in no mood to accept our tie-up," a TDP Politburo member said.
Interestingly, a sample survey conducted by a private agency on the day the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha showed a 19 per cent dip in Modi's popularity in Seemandhra.
These factors have made TDP wary of going ahead with its plan of realigning itself with BJP, party sources said.
BJP may incidentally be averse itself to joining hands with TDP in Telangana due to the latter's wavering stand on the separate statehood issue.
Naidu will be holding a meeting with his Telangana colleagues tomorrow to discuss these political developments and possibly announce a separate party unit for the new state.

The issue of possible electoral alliances is also expected to be discussed at the meeting, sources said.