To recover damages already done, BJP has now given the responsibility to stitch the ties to its national general secretary Ram Madhav.

The cordial relationship between Bhartiya Janata Party and its biggest ally in the south, Telugu Desam Party, has become tense recently. However, Indian Express reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah are in no mood to call off the alliance with the TDP led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. TDP too has no plans to cut off the ties despite expressing its displeasure over a range of issues. To recover damages already done, BJP has now given the responsibility to stitch the ties to its national general secretary Ram Madhav.

Madhav told The Indian Express that TDP is an old alliance partner of BJP and differences between two parties are not political but developmental. Madhav expressed confidence that issues will be resolved through discussions, adding, there is no reason to take it to a political level.

Madhav has been instrumental in BJP’s rise in the North East and also in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP already ruled in three North East states – Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. This number may go up further after the announcement of results of assembly elections in Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland on March 3.

TDP, the biggest alliance partner of BJP in the South, has criticised BJP over allocation of funds to the state, including provisions in the latest Union Budget for Andhra Pradesh. Also, issues such as denial of special category status, delay in the release of funds for Polavaram project and insufficient funds for construction of new capital, Amaravati, have soured ties between the two parties. However, breaking of ties is unlikely to be beneficial for either of the two parties.

TDP is facing a number of political challenges before 2019 elections. The Indian Express reports that TDP vote share was only 2% more than that of the YSR Congress in 2014 despite its alliance with the BJP. Further, increasing problems for Naidu’s party is popular Telugu actor Pawan Kalyan, who had supported TDP last time in contesting elections in some of the constituencies. Just in case if the BJP goes into an alliance with the YSR Congress, it would damage the TDP electorally.