Six years after plugging out of the NDA in 2018, the Telugu Desam Party, one of the biggest regional parties in the country, has once again decided to work together with the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the assembly elections and the Loksabha elections Andhra Pradesh. TDP will jointly share seats with the Janasena and the BJP in both these elections.
Putting an end to all the suspense that has been prevailing for over six months ever since Pawan Kalyan announced an alliance with the TDP in September last year and hinted that the BJP will also come on board to fight together against the YSRCP, an official press note regarding the agreement regarding the same between the three parties is out today afternoon. However, there is no clarity on the number of seats shared between the three parties.
The central office of the BJP released an official communique that stated that the three parties have decided to contest together in the ensuing elections for the upliftment of the state in the coming years. It further stated that the TDP and the BJP have a very old relationship together that dates back to 1996 during the times of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and 2014 when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister for the first time.
This press note is a result of serious deliberations between Nara Chandra Babu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan and Amit Shah along with other BJP leaders. Both Naidu and Pawan have visited Delhi several times in the last couple of months. A couple of days ago, they headed to Delhi to meet BJP president JP Nadda and Amit Shah to finalize the deal. Despite not arriving at a consensus over the number of seats to be shared between the three parties, the leaders have reportedly agreed to ally ahead of the elections.
Meanwhile, speculations are rife in the political circles that Naidu agreed to offer 30-35 assembly seats and 6-8 MP seats to both Janasena and the BJP together. A clear picture of which party will get how many seats in the alliance will be out in a couple of days more.
Both Naidu and Pawan Kalyan already announced that TDP and Janasena will contest in 151 and 24 assembly segments respectively in the upcoming elections. With the BJP joining the alliance, the seat-sharing is likely to change to some extent.
The BJP which has been in power at the centre for ten years has ignored the state on various issues like Special Status, Special package, railway zone, Polavaram project etc. Surprisingly, both the TDP and the Janasena have criticized the Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government for failing to put pressure on the BJP to fulfill the interests of the state. Now, they have once again decided to seek the support of the same party against the YSRCP
It would be interesting to see in which way the mood of the voters will swing this time because of these recent political developments.