After weeks of negotiations, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party have finalised an electoral alliance for the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assembly elections. The agreement was announced by TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekaron Sunday. In the past, the TDP had supported Atal Behari Vajpayee’s NDA government at the Centre.
Both parties, which held parleys late into Saturday night, agreed on a seat-sharing formula where the BJP will contest 47 Assembly seats (out of 119) and eight Lok Sabha constituencies (out of 17) in Telangana and 15 Assembly seats (out of 175 ) and five Lok Sabha constituencies (out of 25) in the Seemandhra region.
Addressing a press conference, Naidu said: “This is a winning alliance which will ensure that the new government secures more than 300 seats at the Centre. It is aimed at rooting out the Congress-led Government.” The seat-sharing announcement did not go down well with sections of both parties, with some aspirants likely to have to make way for a member of the other party to contest.
Already, protests have erupted among both TDP and BJP cadre. However, Prakash Javadekar played this down and said both parties would ensure that their cadre worked together and ensured victory in the polls. Naidu said that the Congress was responsible for all the problems the country faces and it was time the TDP and the BJP worked together to root it out and form a strong and stable government.
He said that the TDP had played a major role in the formation of non-Congress governments at the Centre in the past and would again ensure that a strong government was formed at the Centre.
Terming the Congress’s rule in the past 10 years as misrule that has resulted in economic stagnation and inflation, Naidu said people were disillusioned and wanted a change at both the Centre and the State.
Referring to disgruntlement in party cadres as some would have to make way for BJP candidates, he said that they would be rewarded in different ways once a new Government was formed at the Centre and in the State.