Comments
The BJP-TDP alliance for the upcoming State and Parliament elections in Andhra Pradesh survived last minute hiccups, suspense and pressures. The BJP will now contest 4 of the 25 Lok Sabha and 13 of the 175 Assembly seats, according to the seat-sharing arrangement finalised today.
The top-brass of the BJP represented by Prakash Javadekar and Venkaiah Naidu held last-ditch discussions with TDP leaders and N Chandrababu Naidu to save the alliance, which was threatening to fall apart.
Dual nominations In addition to successfully hammering out minor changes in seats and agreeing to withdraw dual nominations that took place in the last two days, the BJP got a boost with the TDP formally joining the NDA .
Javadekar told newspersons that the alliance was strong and that issues have been sorted out. “We have reached a clear understanding on the two main objectives of forming the alliance. First to work for the development of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and to provide a Congress-free, stable and strong India.”
He said there were no major differences now and the discussions centred around firming up a campaign strategy, issues to be raised and working together in the days ahead.
BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Chandrababu Naidu will jointly address a meeting in Hyderabad on April 22, he said.
TDP’s Sujana Chowdhary said both parties wanted to work out the alliance right from the beginning, with the objective of providing a stable government at the State and Centre. “We have maintained the original agreement of providing 20 seats (15 MLA, 5 LS) to the BJP by allocating 13 MLA, 4 LS and 3 MLC,” he said.
In Itchapuram, the BJP has surrendered its seat in response to the request of the son of Yerran Naidu, former Union Minister, who is contesting from the Srikakulam Lok Sabha constituency.
Similarly, D Purandeswari, former Union Minister and daughter of TDP founder NT Rama Rao representing the Visakhapatnam constituency who recently joined the BJP from Congress, will contest from Rajampet this time.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.