Modi refrains from attacking Andhra CM Jagan in 1st joint rally with new allies Naidu & Kalyan

After a decade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, and Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader Pawan Kalyan shared the stage – marking the commencement of the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha and state assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh.

According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) Saturday, the state will cast its votes in both elections on 13 May.

The grand public meeting, named Praja-Galam (voice of the people), held near Chilakaluripet Sunday, signified the first NDA rally in Andhra Pradesh since the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) rejoined the coalition a week ago.

The friends-turned-foes regrouped after six years, following protracted negotiations over the past several months at the behest of Kalyan.

Naidu and Kalyan, who firmed up their alliance in September following the former’s arrest by AP CID in the alleged skill development project scam, were focused in their offensive on Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s “corrupt, inept administration”, while analysts point out that Modi’s attack on the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) chief has been largely sparing, “as he balances his equation with both sides”.

The Prime Minister, however, accused “YSRCP ministers of engaging in a race ofcorruption,” while stating that vexed Andhra Pradesh voters have decided to remove the incumbent government.

The only place Modi mentioned Reddy was in apparent reference to state Congress chief Y.S. Sharmila,his younger sister.

“Please don’t make the mistake of viewing Jagan and Congress here as separate parties. They are being run by people of the same family. Their act (political enmity) is a ploy to divert some anti-incumbency votes to the Congress to disadvantage our alliance,” he said.

Sharmila, who was appointed Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) chief in January, has been severely castigating her brother publicly over several issues, including Polavaram funds, special category status, and his stalled three capitals plan.

In a state where the Congress has been reduced to nominal presence since the 2014 bifurcation and has no legislative presence, Modi charged the party with insulting Telugu icons N.T. Rama Rao and P.V. Narasimha Rao.

“NTR garu, who personified the roles of Lord Ram and Krishna on screen, and who (as TDP founder president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister) strived for the poor, was troubled, disrespected by the Congress. We have released a coin in commemoration of NTR’s birth centenary,” said Modi, as his Hindi speech was concurrently translated for the audience by Daggubati Purandeswari, NTR’s daughter, and Andhra Pradesh BJP chief, who was earlier a minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Modi added: “We accorded Bharat Ratna to P.V. Narasimha Rao garu, who the Congress had affronted. Regardless of party affiliations, NDA has accorded respect to leaders’ beloved to the public.”

Stating that Andhra Pradesh’s growth took a beating in the past five years, Modi appealed to voters to elect maximum possible NDA MPs and MLAs for “a Viksit Bharat-Viksit Andhra Pradesh.”

“Our partners are growing as NDA moves ahead with regional aspirations and nations progress as its agenda. Naidu and Pawan have been striving for AP’s progress, people’s rights. A double-engine sarkar (government)will provide more speed to growth here,” Modi told the audience as he remarked in Telugu – “Naalugu vandalu daatali; NDA ki vote veyyali (Should vote for the NDA for its tally to cross 400 MPs).”

“We take along everyone in NDA, whereas Congress’s only agenda is to use and throw its partners. It stitched up the INDI Alliance, but constituent parties squabble in different states like in Bengal, Punjab.”

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Modi ‘the Krishna of Dwarka’: Kalyan

In his speech before PM Modi’s at the Praja Galam rally, Pawan Kalyan, a junior partner in the alliance, compared himself to Arjuna from the Mahabharata and said it is for “Sri Krishna of Dwarka to blow the panchajanyam (conch).”

“Modi who comes from Gujarat’s Dwarka would blow the conch for this election Kurukshetra (poll war) for the victory of dharma, justice and the alliance,” said the actor-politician.

While the BJP’s revived alliance with the TDP is seen as a setback to CM Reddy, who had unwaveringly supported the Modi government over several issues, including contentious bills in Parliament, political observers in Andhra Pradesh refer to PM’s speech “as proof of his lingering affection towards the YSRCP chief”.

“Modi, at the most, has been peripheral in his attack on Jagan. For all the valuable support the last five years, the PM has a valid reason to be more affectionate towards Jagan than anyone else in Andhra Pradesh,” professor D.A.R. Subramanyam, political analyst and chairman of Guntur-based Navyandhra Intellectual Forum, told ThePrint.

Subramanyam added the TDP-BJP alliance is born out of political compulsions in Andhra Pradesh and that “the unease on Naidu’s face” was evident on Chilakaluripet stage.

“Naidu has been an unreliable partner, who even called Modi names like terrorist/fanatic. And Modi is not known for forgetting, forgiving. To my understanding, the situation is akin to the Mahabharata episode, where the Yadava sena was ordained to fight on the Kaurava side, while Krishna himself became Arjuna’s charioteer, guide.”

In the YSRCP’s massive Siddham (ready/prepared in Telugu) rally last week at Medarametla – a day after TDP officially rejoined the NDA – Jagan Reddy likened himself to Arjuna and the state’s public to Krishna.

“If the NDA wins, it will be because of anti-incumbency against Jagan and not the TDP-BJP partnership,” Subramanyam opined.

‘Country found right leader in Modi’: Naidu

In the sea of TDP and Jana Sena flags at the joint rally Saturday, those of the BJP were notably sparse – a reflection of the party’s strength in Andhra Pradesh.

In the 2019 assembly elections, when they all contested separately, YSRCP bagged 49.95 percent vote share, TDP secured 39.17 percent and JSP managed around six percent. The BJP scored less than one percent vote share.

However, the large background banner on the stage had Modi and BJP chief J.P. Nadda’s images set prominently, while that of Naidu was almost half the size in a corner alongside sister-in-law Purandeswari and Kalyan.

The former chief minister was profuse in his praise of Modi crediting him for India becoming fifth largest economy, and portrayed him as “the shakti (power) making India Vishwaguru (world leader)”.

In unversed Hindi, Naidu even declared that he “would stand by Modi in his every endeavour”.

“Mein kehna chahta hu ki desh ko sahi samay mein Modi jaisa sahi neta mila hai. Aapke har koshish mein hum aapke saath rahenge; yeh hamara vada hai (I want to say that the country has found the right leader in Modi at the right time. We will stand with you in every effort; this is our promise),” avowed Naidu.

When Modi asked some youngsters, who perched on sound box towers for a better view of the leaders, instructing them to climb down, cautioning of a mishap, Naidu said “it shows the PM’s committed and concerned leadership”.

“Modi means welfare, development, self-respect and self confidence,” he added.