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BJP woos regional parties
George Iype in New Delhi
The Bharatiya Janata Party appears to be making a strategic move to woo key regional parties in the United Front to form a saffron front in the general election.
The BJP's soft targets in the Front are the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
in Tamil Nadu.
In an apparent bid to be on the right side of these south India regional parties, the BJP leadership has somersaulted on the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu and put on hold a proposed anti-TDP government agitation in Andhra Pradesh.
BJP sources said "hurting" DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at this juncture "is not the right thing".
Therefore, a BJP delegation, which was sent to Madras to prepare a report on the bomb blasts and the deteriorating law and order situation in Tamil Nadu, has sought to lay the blame on the central government rather than on the Karunanidhi regime.
Members of the delegation have submitted a detailed report to the BJP leadership. It accuses the central government of not taking any stringent follow-up action against the Pakistan-sponsored activities
in Tamil Nadu.
In Andhra Pradesh, the BJP was to launch "jan adalats to expose the corrupt Naidu government" on December 22. But the BJP leadership has now asked its AP unit to call off the anti-TDP rallies.
"We want to honour the Karunanidhi government's sentiments as the Gujral government fell because of the DMK issue," a senior BJP official claimed.
He said the BJP is holding serious negotiations with both the DMK and the TDP to thrash out an electoral alliance.
But it is too early to predict whether the DMK and the TDP will dump the United Front to join hands with the BJP. However, if a poll alliance with the DMK and the TDP does not work out, the BJP's gameplan is to woo these parties for a post-election realignment at the Centre.
The BJP's random pre-poll surveys suggest that the party will improve its Lok Sabha tally by at least 50 seats and win anything between 190 and 225 seats in the election. Therefore, the party intends to woo as many regional allies as possible to form the next government.
Political observes feel the strategy would be successful once UF partners like the Samajwadi Party and Tamil Maanila Congress decide to join hands with the Congress. Already, the SP and the TMC's flirtations with the Congress are threatening the Front's unity.
What is more, since anti-Congressism has been the raison d'etre of both the DMK and the TDP, the BJP hopes it can strike a deal with these regional parties.
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