NEW DELHI The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will revamp its organisation in Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Telangana to expand its reach and improve its electoral tally without having to rely on allies, according to people aware of the matter. Although the party has ties with other political outfits in the three states, the leadership is concerned that the alliances are not formidable enough to take on the opposition, they said, seeking anonymity.
“There are issues, mostly about seat sharing or ideological compulsions, that can strain ties and affect performance. The party leadership, therefore, feels that the BJP needs to build the organisational structure to be able to dispense with the need to rely on an ally,” said a person.
In Telangana, which goes to the polls later this year, the BJP leadership has conveyed the message that the party would be fighting on its own and not aligning with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to take on the K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi in the state. The TDP broke ties with the BJP and walked out of the National Democratic Alliance in 2018. There are reports of a possible tie up with Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena, also an ally in Andhra Pradesh, to help improve its vote share and tally.
“The BJP is not the principal opposition party, but has come to occupy that space. We have been highlighting the corruption of the KCR family and we expect to win the election on our own. There are, however, areas and communities where our presence is limited, and an ally would be an advantage,” said a state leader.
Though there has been speculation that the Jana Sena has been exploring pre-poll arrangements with the TDP, the BJP leader said there was no likelihood of the three parties coming together ahead of the assembly polls.
“While the BJP has its own capital, and demonstrated its commitment to development under Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, there are some parties in the regions that have come to believe that aligning with the BJP may not be politically expedient for them,” said a second party functionary.
In Punjab, where the BJP and its oldest ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, called off the alliance in 2020 over the now repealed farm laws, the party joined hands with former Congress leader and chief minister Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress (PLC).
However, the poor showing in the Punjab state polls in 2022 has set the alarm bells ringing. The BJP, which contested the polls without the Akali Dal for the first time, won just two seats in the 117- member assembly.
“There is fertile ground for the BJP’s growth in the state, particularly now when people have seen the Aam Aadmi Party government’s misrule. We also have the advantage of not being allied to a party that has a baggage or a perception problem,” said the first functionary.
The BJP is hopeful that in the absence of a strong ally, it will be able to give its expansion plans a boost by roping in senior leaders from the Congress and the Akali Dal such as Sunil Jhakhar, a former state president of the Congress, and Manpreet Singh Badal, the estranged nephew of former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
On whether there has been a rethink on ties with the SAD, the functionary said. “The BJP always took a back seat in Punjab. Our alliance partner dictated the terms when it came to ticket distribution and, consequently, we were limited to the urban areas. It is only in 2022 that we began an active drive to increase our membership in the rural areas. There are about 38% Hindus in the state and the BJP is in a good position to consolidate that vote bank,” the functionary said.
In Tamil Nadu, where the BJP has had some success in increasing its vote share in the urban local polls, the alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has been largely steady, but not a coalition that can alter its luck at the hustings.
“The party’s performance in the urban body polls in 2022 was an indication that we are on an upswing. The BJP’s vote share in the polls was 5.4% in the seats that it contested, which was way higher than that of the Congress,” said a third functionary. To be sure, the BJP contested more seats than the Congress.
While the leadership of both parties have not given indication of any friction in the alliance, there is a section of leaders in the AIADMK that have periodically expressed concern over comments by a few BJP leaders against minorities. More recently, the standoff between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government and governor RN Ravi has led to some leaders in the AIADMK expressing their “discomfort” about the developments, the third leader said.
There is a perception that the BJP tends to overshadow the smaller parties and overlooks their concerns, although it denies the allegation. At the recently concluded national executive committee meeting, former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “We have not dropped any allies; the Shiromani Akali Dal and Nitish Kumar (of the Janata Dal United) left us.”
Since 2018, the BJP broke alliance with the TDP, the People’s Democratic Party in Kashmir, Shiv Sena (2019) and SAD (2020). It also did not contest the Bihar assembly polls of 2020 with its ally the Lok Janshakti Party and snapped ties with the JD(U) in 2022.
