Published Oct 23, 2026 | 9:30 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 23, 2026 | 9:30 AM
Chandra Babu Naidu, K Annamalai and Jagan Mohan Reddy.
One can debate whether the credibility crisis haunting the Election Commission of India (ECI) is affecting the PM Narendra Modi-led NDA government, but there is little doubt that it has altered the equations of several political parties and figures with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leadership.
It isn’t just the once-blue-eyed boy of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, K Annamalai, or former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy or his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik who are singing a different tune. The ECI’s credibility turmoil and the fallout in the form of public anger against CEC Gyanesh Kumar seem to have also altered power dynamics between BJP and NDA allies like the Telugu Desam Party, led by Chandrababu Naidu.
For years, despite not being part of the NDA, YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik in Odisha have been bankable supporting actors for the Narendra Modi-led NDA government.
Inside Parliament or outside, on bills and policies or taking on the Congress as a common rival, the BJP has counted on the two regional parties to eventually aid it. Call it a jolt following massive electoral losses in the previous assembly elections or a savvy political move to cash in on the current public sentiment, both these leaders — Jagan Mohan Reddy and Naveen Patnaik — have publicly taken a stance contradicting the BJP. The former’s pointed attack has been sharper. The most recent ex-friend to join the list was former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai.
On 14 October 2026, Jagan took to his social media page to call out “flaws in the system” and “empathise” with CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka incarcerated for defying the Delhi Police’s orders and holding up the national flag at Jantar Mantar.
Four days later, the YSRCP chief sharpened his attack. This time, he even publicly acknowledged that he regretted backing the BJP’s bill on CEC and EC appointments. This was a rare departure from YSRCP’s convention.
Shortly after this came a post from Patnaik, stating that the “judiciary and the executive must rise to the occasion to ensure that the youth of this country do not lose faith in the rule of law and constitutional rights.” The former CM of Odisha, ousted after 24 years in power by the BJP in the previous assembly elections, has till recently been a long-standing friend ‘outside the government’ at the national level.
Then came a long-winded post from Annamalai that sought to pit CM Narendra Modi against PM Narendra Modi. Ever since he quit the BJP earlier this year, Annamalai’s singular focus has been to distance himself from the BJP in the public eye.
Jagan Mohan Reddy’s “regret for backing the BJP” is a first-of-its-kind public expression of distancing himself from the saffron party. The timing as well as the context matters.
For years now, the relationship between BJP and Jagan Mohan Reddy has been friendly and mutually beneficial. Political analysts would argue that while Jagan backed the BJP on several of its policies and bills despite not being an ally, the BJP extended the courtesy by reining in central agencies that are probing cases involving Jagan.
Despite the TDP and BJP entering an alliance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh assembly elections, the camaraderie wasn’t lost. Even when party MPs, including Vijaysai Reddy, resigned from Parliament, wrecking the YSRCP’s influence in the Rajya Sabha, Jagan chose to remain mum. So what changed now?
The answer may lie in the changing dynamic between the BJP and its allies.
The recent outpouring of anger against CEC Gyanesh Kumar and, by extension, the Narendra Modi government, has tilted the balance.
Fully aware of his party’s bargaining power, TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu, an ally of the BJP, too seems to have become more assertive. The TDP added 16 MPs in Lok Sabha to the NDA when the BJP fell short of a majority on its own in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
From recent judicial appointments to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High Courts to the rapid movement in the ED case against Jagan, political observers in Andhra Pradesh see a ‘Naidu stamp’ on key developments. A newly assertive Naidu comes at the cost of the BJP-YSRCP friendship. Between the two regional parties, the BJP can only choose one — its ally TDP.
With the Local Body Election process turning violent, Jagan seized the opportunity to double down on his demand for an overhaul of the election process. After a crushing defeat in the assembly polls, taking on the ECI and holding a compromised poll process in tandem with the TDP-led NDA in the state responsible for the debacle helps the former CM keep his cadres from being demoralised. More so when videos of YSRCP cadres being attacked at nomination filing centres are emerging from the state.
His statement about regretting backing the BJP’s CEC appointment bill led to several questions on whether he would join the Opposition’s INDIA bloc. Sources in the YSRCP have trashed that possibility entirely. “Ours is an anti-Congress party. How can we join hands with them? Both Congress and BJP are inconsequential in Andhra Pradesh politics,” is YSRCP’s stance. Congress too doesn’t look at Jagan as a reliable ally given his proximity to BJP.
The Congress leaders believe that for Jagan, taking on the ECI is an easy thing to do. In a way, it is.
It is low risk, doesn’t involve questioning PM Modi or HM Amit Shah. It doesn’t disrupt his personal equation with them despite being politically disappointed with the BJP for not extending the camaraderie he has extended to them all these years.
Whether it is for Jagan or Patnaik or even Annamalai, the real test of defiance may lie elsewhere — in BJP’s ambitious Delimitation Bill. YSRCP had backed the Delimitation Bill, which was eventually defeated in Parliament. Will this “regret” over the CEC Appointment Bill extend to the Delimitation Bill, where the stakes are higher and the challenge is directly to the BJP, is the big question.
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(Edited by R Rajesh Kumar.)
