After Venkaiah Naidu, Reddy is the only stalwart the BJP has got so far in a state which was dominated by the Congress till 1983 when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) won the state elections and NT Rama Rao became the chief minister. After that, Andhra was all about the Congress and the TDP, till 2019 when a new party, YSR Congress, led by Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of two-time Congress CM YS Reddy, won a landslide victory.
Reddy has joined the BJP when both the BJP and the Congress, the biggest national parties, count as the smallest ones in the state. In the 2019 state elections, both the parties had a vote share of nearly 1 per cent each and neither could win a single seat. Compare them with YSR Congress, which had 60% vote share with 161 seats, and the TDP, which got a vote share of 39% with 23 seats. The BJP and the Congress had less vote share even than the 5.5% of the Jan Sena Party of actor and filmmaker Pawan Kalyan which he launched in 2014.
Why has Reddy left one party with no popular support for another with the same status?
This is not the first time Reddy has left the Congress, the party with which his family has been allied since 1952. His father Amarnath Reddy was a trusted associate of Indira Gandhi and a minister in the PV Narsimha Rao government. Kiran Kumar Reddy left the Congress as well as resigned as the chief minister in 2014 in protest against his own party’s government at the Centre hiving Telangana off from Andhra Pradesh. He launched his own party, Jai Samaikyandhra Party, which proved to be a non-starter. He joined the Congress back in 2018.
The bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh, which created Telangana, wiped the Congress out in Andhra Pradesh. The revolt of Jaganmohan Reddy had already weakened it in the state. Jaganmohan launched his own party and came in power riding on the popularity of his late father and the sympathy he had garnered from people when he was jailed by the UPA II government at the Centre in a corruption case. Today, YSR Congress and the TDP dominate Andhra politics while Jan Sena Party is trying to build itself up.
Though Reddy had returned to the Congress in 2018, he had not been very active. He was nearly out of public life. Before joining the BJP, he was in the news for buying an expensive house in Hyderabad. After re-joining the Congress, he remained inactive in the party despite the party’s senior leaders visiting him and requesting him to be active, TOI has reported. He lay low even during the 2019 general elections. When he did not show up at Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra when it was passing through the state, many thought he would leave the party.
Reddy was looking to join a party that was suitable for a former chief minister and only the BJP fit the bill. The party has no heavyweights in the state at present, and the other parties had no space for such a tall leader.
Reddy, a first-class cricket player, had famously said that no match is over until the last ball is bowled. Just when Reddy was seen to be riding into the sunset, he joined the BJP where he will start a new political inning.
Even though the BJP has near-zero electoral presence in Andhra Pradesh, Reddy must have considered the party’s ability to storm into new territories. Reddy can nicely fit into the BJP’s Mission South, an attempt to gain footholds in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Currently, Reddy has little traction among the masses as he has been away from active politics for years. What he brings to the BJP is a known face and tall stature, just what the party needs in a state where it’s struggling to find a leader who can build the organisation first. He can also create a new vote base for the BJP in the Reddy community.
The BJP gives Reddy the big party a tall leader like him needs; and Reddy gives the BJP a known face the party needs to build itself ground up in the state. For now, both seem to suit each other. Only the future will tell how the partnership will fare.
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