With just a week left for the assembly and general elections in Andhra Pradesh, there were apprehensions about the transfer of votes among the alliance partners of National Democratic Alliance – Telugu Desam Party, Jana Sena Party and Bharatiya Janata Party.
The TDP and Jana Sena managed to convince their respective party cadres to cooperate with each other in the elections to a large extent, the lack of cooperation from the BJP ranks has been evident for quite some time.
Except in a few places like Anankapalli and Vijayawada, there were no instances of the BJP workers joining the TDP and Jana Sena ranks in the election campaign.
Lending credence to the lack of trust among the alliance partners, the BJP disowned the manifesto declared by the TDP and Jana Sena.
Under these circumstances, the election rallies of Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday seem to have brought sudden change in the political climate in Andhra Pradesh.
The BJP leaders and cadre have suddenly become active after the meetings of Amit Shah, where he had displayed bonhomie with Naidu. Both the leaders held one-on-one meeting and discussed the steps to be taken in the next few days.
Apparently, Shah told the Andhra BJP leaders to give up their apathy and see that they cooperate with the other two parties, so that the BJP can win a few Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh.
And on Monday, Modi showed a lot of affection towards Naidu. He called Naidu his “good friend” and hoped that Andhra Pradesh would be fully with the NDA. At the Rajahmundry rally, too, Modi was all praise for Naidu’s leadership.
“This time AP has both Modi's Guarantee and Nara Chandrababu Naidu's visionary leadership, along with the trust of our dear Pawan Kalyan,” Modi said at the end of his speech.
He pointed out that when Naidu was in power, this state was at the peak of its league and all that had disappeared in the last five years.
Interestingly, Modi refrained from making any reference to withdrawal of reservations for Muslims, apparently at the request of Naidu.
Sources said in the next few days, the BJP and the other two alliance partners would witness a better coordination and cooperation among their cadres and that would help the alliance in the elections.
