TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu during a road show in Vijayawada district
The BJP and former ally N Chandrababu Naidu are reportedly in the vicinity of a partnership in Andhra Pradesh and the collaboration could be announced tomorrow. Gaps over how many seats each side should contest for the national and state election are being bridged to beat the deadline for candidates to file their nominations.
But the stack of differences is not so much about math as geography.
In Parliament, the BJP supported the law that calls for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. The region of Telangana will be carved out as its own state - a welcome decision here, but a deeply resented one in the other two regions of Andhra Pradesh - referred to as Seemandhra, who feel their interests have been betrayed because they will lose a hefty share of water, power and revenue.
In Telangana, the BJP has accrued some goodwill and its local leaders don't want an association with Mr Naidu, who was ambivalent about his support for a new state, and tried to convince the BJP not to support the bifurcation proposal in Parliament. (
Telangana BJP says no deal with Chandrababu Naidu)
For the same reason, Mr Naidu is popular in Seemandhra; the BJP isn't.
But Mr Naidu has spent 10 years out of power, and reportedly believes that if he ties up with the BJP, he could leverage some of the momentum that's being generated by
Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, who is being forecast by opinion polls as the front-runner for the country's top job.
For the BJP, Mr Naidu's worth is boosted by the acknowledged strength and organisational skills of his party cadres in Andhra Pradesh.
The BJP-Naidu combo could also offer a potent challenge to the Congress and
K Chandrasekhara Rao, who fronted the movement for Telangana. So far, talks between the Congress and KCR have not climaxed in an agreement.