Ever since the refusal of Special Status to Andhra Pradesh and the Centre’s apathy towards providing financial assistance for Amaravati and Polavaram Project as well as implementing promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the relations between Andhra Pradesh and the Centre have strained. With the ruling Telugu Desam Party breaking off its ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and walking out of the NDA in early 2018, the Centre-state relations have gone from bad to worse.
So much so that the BJP began using public institutions such as ED, I-T and CBI for political vendetta against TDP MPs and MLAs. While it is a known fact that the BJP government under Modi-Shah dup has definitely overstepped its line of duty and broke protocol several times, Andhra Pradesh has only got a raw deal. Further, AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s battle against Narendra Modi got louder with the formation of the Mahaghatbandhan, with an alliance of all anti-BJP allies.
While the idea had Congress play a leader role, this ticked off the BJP on the wrong side, further worsening Naidu-Modi war. Besides constant bickering and criticism, Naidu also resorted to expose Modi’s failures which did not go down well with the Centre. As the raids on TDP MPs continues, the BJP allied with YSR Congress, TDP’s rival party in the state and the neighbouring TRS party which has pitched itself as Telangana’s only political saviour to end TDP’s presence in the state.
With the help of TRS and YSRCP, the BJP has worked its ways in creating negative propaganda to hit back at the TDP, in which it has partially succeeded. However, the TDP’s use of ”Andhra” sentiment against the TRS and showing YSRCP as a friend of the TRS which plotted against AP along with the BJP, Chandrababu could gain an upper hand in the election campaign in Andhra Pradesh. However, as he had reported earlier, if Narendra Modi government retains its power at the Centre following Lok Sabha poll results, it would become really tough for Chandrababu to get Centre’s help, in the current situation.
However, Chandrababu’s presence is required at the helm to complete the pending capital construction works as well as the Polavaram Project which is claimed to be the lifeline of Andhra Pradesh. But, in terms of Centre-State relations, political observers say that Jagan could be a good fit. On one hand, he will remain a loyal ally to the BJP so that his cases are swept under the carpet during his CM-ship tenure and on the other hand, TRS in Telangana would want a weak CM in AP for it to show off that it is performing better than AP in all sectors.
While YSR Congress has pitched Jagan as the ”change” agent, he may be good for Cooperative Federalism under the BJP government. But, will this change also being development and prosperity to Andhra Pradesh, is something that is yet to be seen.