BJP tweaking stand on Telangana
New Delhi: After pledging unequivocal support for the Telangana Statehood cause for long, the Bharatiya Janata Party now appears to be tweaking its position vis-'-vis the Telengana bill.
The saffron party is moving towards "conditional" support for the bill when it comes up before the Parliament.The BJP has blamed the Congress for "messing up" the affairs of Andhra Pradesh.
It may now insist that its demands for "justice to Seemandhra" should be accepted by the government before it supports the bill on the floor of the House.
The party's Seemandhra unit has given a set of half a dozen amendments which the BJP may move during the discussion on the Bill.Highly placed sources said this 'qualified' stance of the party is a direct result of the persistent lobbying by Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu who has been meeting the top leadership of BJP over the past two days.
After he gate-crashed for a meeting with BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Monday, Naidu met patriarch LK Advani and the Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday.
Naidu is already in talks with BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi for a post poll alliance.On Tuesday, sources disclosed that the BJP leaders agreed to insist on their demand for justice to Seemandhra before going all out to support the bill.
This is a clear departure from the party's earlier stance to support Telangana unconditionally.Besides the backroom talks with Naidu, the BJP is also looking at bigger political dividends with its new stand of 'conditional' support.
The party has feedback that the Modi's charisma may be working among the youth of Andhra Pradesh on both sides of the regional divide. Under the circumstances, the party does not want to limit its prospects to Telangana alone.
For the record however, the party continues to insist that it is for the government and Congress to rein in its own members in the House before asking other parties to support them.
News Posted: 5 February, 2014
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