Even while setting an ambitious target of enrolling 45 lakh members in Andhra Pradesh as part of its ongoing membership drive to strengthen the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), party’s national president Amit Shah on Friday clarified that the expansion mission did not mean it would work against the ruling Telugu Desam Party.
“In a multi-party democracy, we have the right to expand. But, it does not mean we will work against the TDP which is our alliance partner at the State and national level,” Mr. Shah said at a press conference here.
Responding to queries on whether or not the BJP would go it alone in the 2019 elections, he said it was not an appropriate time to think about such issues. Voters gave a joint mandate to the TDP-BJP combine in the previous elections and the party’s ties with the TDP were strong. The two were working together for the development of the State and the country, he added.
Mr. Shah said the party had decided to enrol 10 crore members across the country as part of the ongoing drive and Andhra Pradesh with 45 lakh members would play an important role in the party’s affairs.
Asked about the delay in according special status to the State, he said the Central government should accord due priority to the newly formed State in line with the A.P. State Reorganisation Act in such a manner that there was no scope for favouritism in the federal structure.
On the reports that former Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy was willing to join the BJP, but the coalition compulsions were preventing his entry into the party, he said the BJP would take its own decisions and would not depend on the alliance partners.
Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said there was a political vacuum after the people rejected the Congress outright in the State and the BJP was looking at filling the space to emerge as a strong party in A.P.
‘Voters gave a joint mandate to the TDP-BJP combine and two are working together for the development of the State and the country’
