New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah is likely to hold a meeting with the core group of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Andhra Pradesh unit on Saturday, people in the party said, after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The meeting comes as the BJP finds itself in a tight corner in Andhra Pradesh after the TDP and YSR Congress moved notices for a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha against the Narendra Modi government.
Shah is likely to review the political situation in Andhra Pradesh and strategize over the BJP’s options in Andhra Pradesh, which sends 25 members to the Lok Sabha. Assembly elections in the state will be held along with Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
The BJP has already asserted that the TDP’s decision to sever ties with it is a timely opportunity for it to grow in Andhra Pradesh.
“TDP’s decision to quit was inevitable after its mischievous propaganda against Centre. People of Andhra Pradesh have now realised that the TDP is resorting to lies to cover up its inept and inert governance. Far from being a threat, TDP’s exit is a timely opportunity for the BJP to grow in Andhra Pradesh,” BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Narasimha Rao said.
The TDP and the YSR Congress headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy are the two main parties in the state. While the former has been a part of the NDA since 2014, the YSR Congress too has often supported the government in Parliament on many legislations. However, both have now been targeting the BJP after the Centre declined to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.