Home » Politics » Friends In Need For Bjp Ysrcp And Bjd Bite The Dust At The Hands Of Saffron Party And Allies

‘Friends in need’ for BJP, YSRCP and BJD bite the dust at the hands of saffron party and allies

For all the support BJP has received from YSRCP and BJD over the last ten years, its return gift has been absolute political decimation.

ByAnusha Ravi Sood

Published Jun 04, 2024 | 6:55 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 05, 2024 | 7:08 AM

YSRCP’s Jagan Mohan Reddy, BJP’s Narendra Modi, BJD’s Naveen Patnaik. (South First)

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh and Naveen Patnaik in Odisha were two leaders whom BJP could always count on.

In the 10 years that BJP has been in power, Jagan’s YSRCP and Naveen’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have been the “friends in need” that the saffron party needed.

Despite not being part of the NDA, YSRCP and BJD have diligently backed BJP for good, bad, and worse.

On Tuesday, when results of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 started trickling in, it was the same “friend” — BJP — and its allies that dealt death blows to both YSRCP and BJD in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, respectively.

If the BJP-led NDA’s ally TDP did Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP in, it was BJP that took down Naveen Patnaik’s BJD.

Andhra Assembly election results: TDP eyes overwhelming; YSRCP faces rout

YSRCP and BJD’s equation with BJP

Neither YSRCP nor BJD have been official allies of BJP. But that has never stopped the two regional parties from aiding BJP whenever it needed help.

Whether it was controversial bills in the parliament, bills aimed at taking away power from elected government in New Delhi, or to replace criminal justice laws or even the bill to alter the appointment process of election commission officials, YSRCP and BJD backed BJP.

In one confidence motion after another, YSRCP and BJD backed BJP in the last 10 years. From the debate on Manipur to the inauguration of the new Parliament building, the two regional parties have guarded BJP’s honour as if they were a loyal friend.

For all the support BJP has received from YSRCP and BJD over the last 10 years, its return gift has been absolute political decimation.

While BJP’s ally TDP-JSP combine reduced Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP to a bare 10 seats in the 175-seat Assembly of Andhra Pradesh, BJP personally snatched Odisha away from Naveen Patnaik. The saffron party won 80 out of the 147 seats in the Odisha Assembly.

As far as the Lok Sabha seats are concerned, the BJP-TDP-JSP combine reduced YSRCP to a mere four seats out of 25.

In Odisha, it was a bloodbath for BJD, which was reduced to just one seat out of the 21 in the state, in a tie with Congress.

Jagan Mohan Reddy’s worst fears, when BJP joined hands with TDP and JSP, came true on Tuesday even as he has maintained a friendly relationship with BJP for 10 years.

As they say, there are perhaps no permanent friends or enemies in politics, and YSRCP and BJD seem to have learnt it the hard way.