The Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday suffered a setback on the alliance front as it finally failed to bring NTR-TDP into its alliance network.
The party would contest all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, party general secretary and in-charge for the state, M Venkaiah Naidu announced.
The decision came as a surprise to many BJP leaders who had taken the alliance almost for granted. The BJP and the NTR-TDP chief Lakshmi Parvathi had been working together ever since her husband NT Rama Raos death, a couple of years back.
The prospects of the alliance had run into rough weather when the BJPs state unit chief B Dattatreya unilaterally informed Parvathi that the BJP would leave ten seats for her. Dattatreyas decision to bypass central leaders irked Naidu and party vice-president Bangaru Laxman, who also belongs to the state. They were unwilling to concede more than eight seats to her.
There were other factors that also worked against her. One of them was her demand that her party be given key portfolios if the BJP formed government at the Centre, a BJP leader said. The central leaders also did not like her reported hobnobbing with the Congress even while she was carrying on a dialogue with the BJP, he said. BJPs senior leaders were convinced that she could not be depended upon, he added.
As if to show its determination, the BJP announced the list of nominees for the states 11 Lok Sabha seats. This was in addition to three nominees from Uttar Pradesh, two from Maharashtra and one from Gurdaspur (Punjab). Cine actor Vinod Khanna, who joined the party yesterday, has been fielded from Gurdaspur.
The party finally succumbed to pressure from its UP unit, compromised on indiscipline and renominated Ganga Charan Rajput from the Hamirpur seat. In fact, all the four controversial persons, Sachidanand Sakshi (Farukhabad), Chhatra Pal Singh (Bulandshahr), Amar Pal Singh (Meerut) and Rajput have been given ticket despite serious reservations from the partys central leaders.
Rajputs candidature was announced only after he tendered an apology to party president LK Advani. The BJPs parliamentary board had decided that his name should be declared only after the apology, a BJP leader said. Rajput had floated a backward MPs forum despite objections by the partys senior leaders and had spoken against the BJPs senior leadership.
Rajput had strong backing from UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and other Lodh leaders from the state. The likelihood of Rajput leaving the party and joining the Samajwadi Party if he was denied ticket also worked in his favour.
