It has been years since the BJP has lost glory or should I say Lost face in Andhra Pradesh. Its place in Andhra Politics has been relegated to a bystander. Whose fault is it?
There is nobody to fault with except the BJP itself. Particularly the central command of the party for not having concentrated on the state despite the good performance it put up around a decade ago. Remember 1998 anyone. That was a time when the BJP had become talk of the town by winning 4 Loksabha seats on its own facing many odds in the form of a strong party in power, a formidable opposition party etc. It had a vote share of over 18% that elections. This stunned political observers all over. (click here to see BJP's performance in 1998 loksabha elections.)
Suddenly people like Bandaru Dattatreya, Vidyasagar Rao had all become superstars in Andhra Polity. They won considerable clout with their central command and among fellow politicians of the state as well.
Chandrababu Naidu then a supporter of the NDA government at the centre naturally dumped his partners in 1998 elections, the left parties, and gone for an all-out alliance with the BJP for the 1999 Assembly and Loksabha elections. The gamble paid off. They won a stunning majority in the assembly as well as the Loksabha seats. In fact the Loksabha performance was way better, at 36 seats out of 42. The BJP had taken home & seats. But the vote share fell from 18% the previous year to 9.9%, although it translated into more victories. (click here for BJP and TDP performance in 1999 loksabha elections)
The fall in the vote share was overlooked and may have been appropriated by the leaders of the party as a natural fallout of the alliance with a larger party. As usual power corrupted the minds of the leaders who instead of concentrating on building the party have settled with their ministerial posts and new found clout in New Delhi. That was the beginning of the mistakes by the BJP in Andhra.
The central command that was happy with the results obtained by the state unit had taken a lot of solace from the TDP's support to it and forgot the basic concept of politics. "You are only as strong as your grass roots workforce is", which the party conveniently forgot to build. All the gains that were made in the years 1998, 1999 were a result of the huge sympathy wave in favor of the party and in particular its leader Atal Behari Vajpayee. This was never realised by the party.
Perhaps the party's alliances in some other states like Maharashtra and Orissa where it had sort of permanent political partners made it feel complacent about the situation in Andhra. It had taken Chandrababu Naidu and his support for granted and chose to depend on the well being of his party and its performance in the state. Chandrababu's then image of a right-of-centre politician who is against big-government, mindless spending and more importantly his policies of taxation must have led the BJP into believing that he was a lot closer to them ideologically than they had initially thought.
Whatever they had thought, they had neglected to layout a road map for strengthening the party structure in the state. The initial gains that were made as a result of sympathy should have been consolidated on by putting emphasis on creating a grass roots workforce that would build the party organically.
Then came 2004. The year of eye-opening truths and facts of Andhra politics. The ruling TDP had been grounded by the people of the state and with it the BJP had bitten dust. In a reversal of fortunes the Congress and its allies bagged almost the same number of LS seats as did the BJP and TDP in 1999. This, together with Tamilnadu, changed the game in Delhi. The NDA was humbled and UPA assumed power. (the 2004 reversal of fortunes.)
The stark realities of politics were then visible to the BJP more than ever. The gains that the party flaunted from the preceding elections had all been erased at a single stroke and it found itself naked, without a proper organisation structure and lack of a ground level working force. The 'stalwarts' that had claimed credit for the victories had no home to go as they were all humbled by the verdict of the people.
Slowly BJP had taken a back seat in the minds of the people. People perhaps stopped talking about it and gradually it had become a non-issue in Andhra politics. The charisma had been lost. The only saving grace of the elections has been of Kishan Reddy and another MLA from Pithapuram. Even now the party has not learnt the lessons. Presidentship of the party state unit has been rotating among a few individuals like Dattatreya, Vidyasagar and Indrasena Reddy.
They have all been genuine workers of the party in the earlier decades. But now they are a spent force. The leadership of the state unit has nothing new to offer: not atleast hope to the few cadres left. But the party failed to learn any lessons. Never has there been an attempt to resurrect the party organisation. Elections in 2009 prove that fact. This time Kishan reddy wins again and also an MLA from Nizamabad. Not much is to be read into the win from Nizamabad for it had more to do with local factors than the strength of the party. Its a blank in the LS seats.
Still the BJP hasn't seemed to learn any lessons. The leadership is probably going to continue. They are not going to give it up. Nor do they have an agenda to construct the party. The party central unit although having realised that lack of grassroots presence in states like TN, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh is proving costly election after election, hasn't moved towards building the party in these states. Its now the time to act.
Its now time for the national unit to step in to change the horses. BJP should make Kishan Reddy head of the state unit. This would be a very encouraging factor for youngsters who want to support the party but get bogged down looking at the ageing leadership that seems to have nothing to offer. Kishan reddy may not be the 'super man' that would bring glory to the state unit. But he can try. There is no harm in trying a new horse when the old horses are not effective anymore. The party should not be afraid of taking risks. After all it has not much to lose but a lot to gain out of such risks.
With politics in Andhra getting more and more fractured with the presence of new entrants, each party is now fighting for a lesser number of votes to win. Strengthening the party at the ground level by participating in local issues would give the local units the necessary traction to put up a fight in the elections. Convincing on strong section of the population, maybe the trading community or the salaried middle class etc., in each constituency should be the agenda. Remember, the fight now, for all the parties, is for a lesser number of votes.
Adding to it should be the efforts of the national leadership of the party. Frequent visits and appearances at public meetings of nationally reputed leaders like Advani, Modi and even chief ministers of other states would also help gaining some visibility. Using Venkaiah Naidu doesn't not help anymore. He lacks vision and imagination for the party and that is one reason for the current state of affairs of the state party.
The national leadership of the party has to resolve the issue of the leadership at the earliest. Even as the party strives to strengthen the grassroots level organisation efforts have to be made to gain allies in the state. Andhra politics is now as fractured as Tamilnadu. Winning a credible ally should be an easy job and the options are glaring: TDP, PRP, TRS. The central leadership should show more resolve in trying to win one of these sides over to them. If the right language is spoken to each of the parties its now as difficult as is was made out to be in the recent elections.
But for all this to happen the party has to clear the confusion over leadership at the top level soon.
There is nobody to fault with except the BJP itself. Particularly the central command of the party for not having concentrated on the state despite the good performance it put up around a decade ago. Remember 1998 anyone. That was a time when the BJP had become talk of the town by winning 4 Loksabha seats on its own facing many odds in the form of a strong party in power, a formidable opposition party etc. It had a vote share of over 18% that elections. This stunned political observers all over. (click here to see BJP's performance in 1998 loksabha elections.)
Suddenly people like Bandaru Dattatreya, Vidyasagar Rao had all become superstars in Andhra Polity. They won considerable clout with their central command and among fellow politicians of the state as well.
Chandrababu Naidu then a supporter of the NDA government at the centre naturally dumped his partners in 1998 elections, the left parties, and gone for an all-out alliance with the BJP for the 1999 Assembly and Loksabha elections. The gamble paid off. They won a stunning majority in the assembly as well as the Loksabha seats. In fact the Loksabha performance was way better, at 36 seats out of 42. The BJP had taken home & seats. But the vote share fell from 18% the previous year to 9.9%, although it translated into more victories. (click here for BJP and TDP performance in 1999 loksabha elections)
The fall in the vote share was overlooked and may have been appropriated by the leaders of the party as a natural fallout of the alliance with a larger party. As usual power corrupted the minds of the leaders who instead of concentrating on building the party have settled with their ministerial posts and new found clout in New Delhi. That was the beginning of the mistakes by the BJP in Andhra.
The central command that was happy with the results obtained by the state unit had taken a lot of solace from the TDP's support to it and forgot the basic concept of politics. "You are only as strong as your grass roots workforce is", which the party conveniently forgot to build. All the gains that were made in the years 1998, 1999 were a result of the huge sympathy wave in favor of the party and in particular its leader Atal Behari Vajpayee. This was never realised by the party.
Perhaps the party's alliances in some other states like Maharashtra and Orissa where it had sort of permanent political partners made it feel complacent about the situation in Andhra. It had taken Chandrababu Naidu and his support for granted and chose to depend on the well being of his party and its performance in the state. Chandrababu's then image of a right-of-centre politician who is against big-government, mindless spending and more importantly his policies of taxation must have led the BJP into believing that he was a lot closer to them ideologically than they had initially thought.
Whatever they had thought, they had neglected to layout a road map for strengthening the party structure in the state. The initial gains that were made as a result of sympathy should have been consolidated on by putting emphasis on creating a grass roots workforce that would build the party organically.
Then came 2004. The year of eye-opening truths and facts of Andhra politics. The ruling TDP had been grounded by the people of the state and with it the BJP had bitten dust. In a reversal of fortunes the Congress and its allies bagged almost the same number of LS seats as did the BJP and TDP in 1999. This, together with Tamilnadu, changed the game in Delhi. The NDA was humbled and UPA assumed power. (the 2004 reversal of fortunes.)
The stark realities of politics were then visible to the BJP more than ever. The gains that the party flaunted from the preceding elections had all been erased at a single stroke and it found itself naked, without a proper organisation structure and lack of a ground level working force. The 'stalwarts' that had claimed credit for the victories had no home to go as they were all humbled by the verdict of the people.
Slowly BJP had taken a back seat in the minds of the people. People perhaps stopped talking about it and gradually it had become a non-issue in Andhra politics. The charisma had been lost. The only saving grace of the elections has been of Kishan Reddy and another MLA from Pithapuram. Even now the party has not learnt the lessons. Presidentship of the party state unit has been rotating among a few individuals like Dattatreya, Vidyasagar and Indrasena Reddy.
They have all been genuine workers of the party in the earlier decades. But now they are a spent force. The leadership of the state unit has nothing new to offer: not atleast hope to the few cadres left. But the party failed to learn any lessons. Never has there been an attempt to resurrect the party organisation. Elections in 2009 prove that fact. This time Kishan reddy wins again and also an MLA from Nizamabad. Not much is to be read into the win from Nizamabad for it had more to do with local factors than the strength of the party. Its a blank in the LS seats.
Still the BJP hasn't seemed to learn any lessons. The leadership is probably going to continue. They are not going to give it up. Nor do they have an agenda to construct the party. The party central unit although having realised that lack of grassroots presence in states like TN, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh is proving costly election after election, hasn't moved towards building the party in these states. Its now the time to act.
Its now time for the national unit to step in to change the horses. BJP should make Kishan Reddy head of the state unit. This would be a very encouraging factor for youngsters who want to support the party but get bogged down looking at the ageing leadership that seems to have nothing to offer. Kishan reddy may not be the 'super man' that would bring glory to the state unit. But he can try. There is no harm in trying a new horse when the old horses are not effective anymore. The party should not be afraid of taking risks. After all it has not much to lose but a lot to gain out of such risks.
With politics in Andhra getting more and more fractured with the presence of new entrants, each party is now fighting for a lesser number of votes to win. Strengthening the party at the ground level by participating in local issues would give the local units the necessary traction to put up a fight in the elections. Convincing on strong section of the population, maybe the trading community or the salaried middle class etc., in each constituency should be the agenda. Remember, the fight now, for all the parties, is for a lesser number of votes.
Adding to it should be the efforts of the national leadership of the party. Frequent visits and appearances at public meetings of nationally reputed leaders like Advani, Modi and even chief ministers of other states would also help gaining some visibility. Using Venkaiah Naidu doesn't not help anymore. He lacks vision and imagination for the party and that is one reason for the current state of affairs of the state party.
The national leadership of the party has to resolve the issue of the leadership at the earliest. Even as the party strives to strengthen the grassroots level organisation efforts have to be made to gain allies in the state. Andhra politics is now as fractured as Tamilnadu. Winning a credible ally should be an easy job and the options are glaring: TDP, PRP, TRS. The central leadership should show more resolve in trying to win one of these sides over to them. If the right language is spoken to each of the parties its now as difficult as is was made out to be in the recent elections.
But for all this to happen the party has to clear the confusion over leadership at the top level soon.
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