The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is keen to repeat its victory of the 1999 elections in the prestigious Tirupati (SC) Lok Sabha constituency in 2024 even as speculations are rife that the party would join the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-Jana Sena Party (JSP) combine for the forthcoming elections.
In a straight fight in the 1999 elections, BJP nominee and a former bureaucrat N. Venkataswamy defeated then Congress candidate Chinta Mohan, albeit with a thin margin of 12,497 votes.
A spiritual centre and land of temples, Tirupati is considered a prestigious seat even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of winning more than 400 Lok Sabha seats in the country. The BJP is eyeing the Tirupati seat as it ticks a majority of the points of being an ideal voter base of the party—religious importance, predominantly urban, elite and educated voters, an academic hub of seven universities, national institutes such as IIT, IISER and IIIT (Sri City).
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Political dynamics
In 1999, BJP’s then-alliance partner TDP had helped it consolidate the voters. The BJP is hoping for a repeat performance in 2024 elections as political pundits see a good possibility of its alliance with the TDP-JSP combine nearing fruition. Political analysts also point to the perceptible inactivity in the TDP and the JSP camps regarding the Tirupati Lok Sabha seat. They call it a pointer to the likelihood of the seat going the BJP.
The BJP is considering the candidature of its State Secretary S. Muni Subramanyam, a civil contractor for the Tirupati look Sabha seat. Mr. Subramanyam’s public outreach programmes over the last 14 years as well as his past connections as the spokesperson of the erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) floated by actor K. Chiranjeevi are being viewed as his strengths.
Similarly, retired IAS officer Dasari Srinivasulu is also tipped as a possible candidate in view of his RSS background and his association with Sangh Parivar’s ABVP during his college days. As a member of Samarasata Seva Foundation, he has played a key role in building temples in rural areas to curb religious conversions.
The name of Niharika, daughter of K. Ratna Prabha, a retired bureaucrat of Karnataka cadre who unsuccessfully contested in the 2021 by-elections, is also doing rounds.
With a perceived ‘Modi wave’, the BJP is confident of wresting the constituency that is synonymous with the Tirumala shrine, say the party leaders.
