Guwahati: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is closely monitoring signals of a possible political realignment by YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) chief and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, whose recent remarks backing electoral reforms and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) have raised questions about his party’s future political alignment.

Reddy said on Sunday that the appointment of election commissioners should be independent of the government in power. He also expressed regret over the YSRCP’s support for the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, which governs the appointment of election commissioners.

Reddy has also criticised the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, claiming that 4.6 million fake voters had been identified nationwide while elections were set to proceed using unrevised electoral rolls. He further alleged that the delimitation of divisions and wards had been carried out to favour the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Earlier this week, Reddy expressed support for CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who were detained after a protest in Delhi against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He said the electoral system had flaws that needed to be corrected and that the arrests of the two leaders would aggravate tensions rather than resolve them. His remarks were interpreted as a show of support for CJP, which has been participating in protests over alleged irregularities in the SIR process.

Senior BJP leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a possible YSRCP alignment with the Congress-led INDIA bloc could reshape political calculations in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Telangana.

The potential shift comes as the BJP seeks support for the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty First Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Delimitation Bill. The latter proposes redrawing constituency boundaries based on the 2011 Census and is linked to the implementation of 33% reservation for women in legislatures.

The YSRCP has eight MPs, with four each in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Although it is not part of the NDA, the party has been regarded as a friendly party by the BJP-led government, having supported it on key issues, including the Citizenship Amendment Act, the abrogation of Article 370 and the farm laws.

The BJP had also been counting on YSRCP support for the delimitation and constitutional amendment bills. Reddy, however, has called on the Union government to ensure that southern states do not lose parliamentary representation because of population-control measures. His party has also demanded that the government’s assurance of a proportionate increase in seats for southern states be incorporated into the delimitation legislation.

The Delimitation Bill requires a simple majority for passage, which the NDA has the numbers to secure in both Houses, according to the figures cited by BJP leaders. The constitutional amendment, however, requires a two-thirds majority, a threshold the ruling coalition is short of in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

A BJP leader said a possible YSRCP alignment with the Congress could strengthen the opposition in Andhra Pradesh by consolidating support among Christian and Muslim voters. The leader also suggested that such a realignment could benefit the Congress in Telangana, where voters with roots in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema are influential in several constituencies.

The leader cited the presence of settler voters in around 20–30 constituencies in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation region, including Gachibowli, Khammam and Suryapet, as a factor that could affect electoral calculations if the political alignment changed.

Another BJP leader, however, suggested that Reddy’s recent statements should be viewed in the context of legal pressure on him. The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, which are probing cases against the former chief minister, have moved the court seeking a daily trial, the leader said.

The leader also argued that the opposition’s allegations of electoral malpractice had limited traction on the ground in Andhra Pradesh.