Amid talks of tie-up with TDP, BJP picks Purandeswari, arch-rival of Chandrababu Naidu, to lead Andhra unit

Picking Purandeswari, daughter of TDP founder NT Rama Rao, to lead the party in Andhra Pradesh can be seen as an indication that the BJP is trying to woo the powerful, influential, and wealthy Kamma community that has traditionally supported the TDP.

The current party Andhra unit president, Somu Veerraju, was replaced by Purandeswari as his term was nearing completion. He was appointed as BJP state chief in July 2020.

Related: Amit Shah-Naidu meeting rekindles talk of BJP-TDP alliance

The significance of Purandeswari

The BJP order appointing D Purandeswari the chief of its Andhra Pradesh unit. (Supplied)

The appointment of Purandeswari — widely known as a bête noire and arch-rival of TDP chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu, who is also her brother-in-law — as BJP state chief comes at a crucial time: Andhra Pradesh goes to polls within nine months.

Purandeswari joined the BJP from the Congress just before the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. She unsuccessfully contested the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls as a BJP candidate.

She was fielded by the BJP from the Rajampeta segment in 2014, and from the Visakhapatnam constituency in 2019.

In 2014, the BJP went to the polls in alliance with the TDP. In the seat-sharing formula with the TDP, Rajampeta went to the BJP.

While Purandeswari aspired to contest from the Visakhapatnam segment, she was sent to Rajampeta. It was widely speculated at that time was she lost due to non-cooperation from the TDP leadership.

While in the Congress, Purandeswari served as a minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Union government.

BJP insiders told South First that the party always wanted to utilise the legacy of “NTR’s daughter” to gain some strength in Andhra Pradesh. They also expected that she would attract some TDP leaders into the party fold in the last nine years.

It is learnt that Purandeswari conveyed to the BJP leadership she could not deliver the “desired results” without being given any formidable position in the party.

Not to ruffle feathers within the TDP between 2014 and 2018, the BJP — as an ally — kept Puarndeswari idle.

Now, that the saffron party wants to gain strength by bringing in leaders from other parties — especially from the TDP — in Andhra Pradesh, Purandeswari has been chosen to lead the party in the state.

Related: Why Daggubati Venkateswara Rao called it quits from politics

Decades-old family rivalry

The rivalry between the Daggubati and Nara families goes back to the era of the 1990s.

Purandeswari’s husband Daggubati Venkateswara Rao and Nara Chandrababu Naidu, sons-in-law of thespian NTR, were contemporaries in Andhra Pradesh politics. Naidu is married to Purandeswari’s sister Bhuvaneshwari.

Venkateswara Rao has always been known as an arch-rival of Chandrababu Naidu.

While Naidu was successful in inheriting NTR’s political legacy and the party that was founded by the late actor-turned-politician, Venkateswara Rao had a chequered career in politics, despite being elected as an MLA five times — in 1983, 1985, 1989, 2004, and 2009 — and also once each to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He encouraged his wife Purandeswari to join electoral politics.

Also read: GVL Narasimha Rao, D Purandeswari eye Vizag ticket

Venkateswara Rao joined the TDP soon after NTR floated it in 1982. He was elected to the state Assembly the following year and was re-elected in 1985. He was also a minister in NTR’s Cabinet. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Bapatla constituency in 1991, also on a TDP ticket.

Venkateswara Rao sided with Chandrababu Naidu in the revolt against NTR in 1995, a few months after the TDP regained power in Andhra Pradesh, but returned to NTR’s camp a few weeks later when Naidu sidelined him.

In fact, the co-brothers — as men married to two sisters are referred to in these parts — did not see eye to eye for years and did not interact with each other.

That was until 2021, when they bumped into each other at a family function — the wedding of one of NTR’s granddaughters.

They had a brief chat at the event, which became something of a point of discussion in political circles as it was widely known that they were not on talking terms.