Sunday, April 10 2005 10:43 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hyderabad: Is the honeymoon between BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and its key regional ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) coming to an end?

Signals to this effect are emanating from both the camps in the midst of changing political dynamics in Andhra Pradesh.

Once a crucial player in the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) regime, the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP, smarting under electoral drubbing last year, is now undergoing an ideological churning process that may well lead to its parting ways with the saffron party.

An already fragile relationship between the two allies has come under further strain with BJP President L K Advani recently asserting his party's commitment to Hindutva ideology and construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya.

Advani's remarks at the party's silver jubilee celebrations in Delhi have caused consternation in TDP circles.

"We condemn BJP's moves to revert to hardline Hindutva and revive Ayodhya issue. This poses danger to secularism," the Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party (TDPP) leader K Yerran Naidu said.

Though TDP has not taken an official stand on its future relationship with BJP, a majority of the party leaders are understood to be favouring review of the alliance with the saffron party.

"When BJP is clearly moving towards hardline Hindutva plank, what is the point in continuing the alliance? Our views on secularism are well known," a senior TDP leader and a member of the party's Polit Bureau told sources in Hyderabad.

A meeting of the TDP Polit Bureau held here recently took serious note of Advani's statement on Hindutva and Ayodhya issues and felt that it went against the spirit of coalition.

There are also indications that TDP may eventually cosy up to the idea of reviving the Third Front. "We are keenly observing the statements emanating from CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and Samajwadi Party (SP) camps on the need to revive Third Front," a TDP leader said.

The TDP had a long-standing alliance with Left parties in the State before snapping ties and deciding to support the BJP-led NDA in 1998.

Significantly, TDP and Left parties-- CPI (Communist Party of India) and CPM are now finding themselves on the same wavelength in strongly opposing the demand for separate Telangana State and also revival of the State Legislative Council, for which ruling Congress Party is gearing up.

Meanwhile, the State BJP unit has unilaterally announced that it would not have a tie-up with TDP in the coming Municipal elections, scheduled to be held later this year.

"We have our own policies and programmes. We will go it alone in the Municipal polls," senior BJP leader and former Union Minister B Dattatreya said.

Though sitting in the Opposition for the last 11 months, the two pre-poll allies never took up public issues together, indicating a widening rift.

The gulf between TDP and BJP has been widening after their severe drubbing in the May Assembly elections that saw Congress storming to power after a gap of ten years.

The TDP has been scrupulously distancing itself from the agitational programmes being undertaken by BJP, including the one that was to protest the arrest of Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi in Sankararaman murder case.