BJP AGENDA FOR ANDHRA

New Delhi, 22 February 2006

New Delhi, February 23 (INFA): The BJP has evolved a “revival package” for the party in Andhra Pradesh. As part of this strategy, the party will simultaneously launch two movements, one for separate Telangana State and  the other for separate Andhra Pradesh.

The idea is to re-build the base of the party in these two distinct regions by raking up regional passions. 

However, the problem is that the “separatist ploy” may not work this time against the backdrop of the low credibility of the party on the issue.

On the eve of the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had sought to play the Telengana card – almost three years before the birth of the Telengana Rashtra Samiti – by raising the slogan “one vote, two States”. 

At the Kakinada Session of the State Executive before the polls, the party had endorsed the demand for separate Telengana on the ground that injustice had been done to the region in integrated Andhra Pradesh and the solution lay in bifurcating the State.

The party managed to get 18 per cent of the votes and four Lok Sabha seats – the highest in its history in the State till that time – but soon it had to give up its promise of two States, Telengana and Andhra, due to political compulsions.  The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance came to power at the Centre, thanks to the Telugu Desam’s “Samaikya Andhra Pradesh”.  The BJP had to exclude its separate Telangana promise from the NDA’s National Agenda of Governance.

The BJP, thus, remained hamstrung on the issue as long as the NDA remained in power.  A significant fact about the BJP is that in its 24-year chequered history in Andhra Pradesh, the party performed somewhat better only when it allied with the TDP.---INFA

ONGC REFINERY MAY MOVE

Hyderabad, February 23 (INFA): The proposed refinery of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) at Kakinada in association with the Mangalore Oil Refinery will move out of Kakinada, and even to out of Andhra Pradesh.

According to reliable sources, the ONGC is examining the issue in view of widespread resentment among farmers of the Kakinada suburbs, where the refinery is proposed.

The State Government has recently entered into a MoU with the ONGC for setting up the project at Kakinada at a cost of Rs.6,500 crore.

Land acquisition for the project has been entrusted to the Kakinada SEZ Private Limited, a reputed firm.---INFA