In a huge boost to the BJP, which has been seeking to expand the NDA to meet its target of winning 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the party has finalised an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party and the Jana Sena Party in Andhra Pradesh.
Announcing that the pact has been sealed, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu said on Saturday that the alliance would sweep the Assembly elections in the state, which are expected to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls.
"Andhra Pradesh has been destroyed badly. The BJP and the TDP coming together is a win-win situation for the country and the state," the former chief minister was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Minutes after Mr Naidu's statement, BJP President JP Nadda made a post on X welcoming the TDP and the Jana Sena Party (JSP) into the NDA.
"I wholeheartedly welcome the decision of Shri @ncbn (Chandrababu Naidu's handle) and (JSP chief) Shri @PawanKalyan to join the NDA family. Under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Hon. PM Shri @narendramodi ji, BJP, TDP, and JSP are committed to the progress of the country and the upliftment of the state and people of Andhra Pradesh," Mr Nadda said in the post.
A joint statement by the three parties emphasised the long relationship between the TDP and the BJP.
"The BJP and TDP have a very old relationship together. The TDP joined NDA in 1996 and has worked together successfully in Atalji (former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee) and Narendra Modiji's government. In 2014, the TDP and the BJP fought the Lok Sabha election and Assembly election together," the statement said.
Seat Division
Mr Naidu and Mr Kalyan held a meeting with senior BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday and a deal was hammered out after an intense round of negotiations. Sources said that while the BJP wanted to contest 10 out of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, the TDP made it clear that it is the primary opposition party in the state.
Sources said the formula which has been arrived at is that the TDP will fight 17 Lok Sabha seats while the BJP will be allotted six and the JSP will contest from two. The details of exactly which constituencies will be allotted to each party will be worked out after a BJP team visits Andhra Pradesh.
Changing Equations
The TDP had been a part of the NDA until 2018 when Mr Naidu - who was the Andhra Pradesh chief minister at the time - had walked out of the coalition over financial support for the state. The alliance with the BJP was crucial for his party this time around after a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in 2019.
The YSRCP had won 22 out of the 25 Lok Sabha Seats and 151 out of 175 Assembly constituencies while the TDP had managed to achieve victory in just three and 23, respectively.
The alliance also marks a shift for the BJP, which has been supported by the YSRCP on several occasions, especially in getting bills passed in the Rajya Sabha. It will, however, help the national party gain a foothold in the southern states, where it is perceived to be relatively weak.
Having won just 29 of the 130 Lok Sabha constituencies in the region in 2019, the party is keenly aware that it will have to significantly better that score to reach its target of securing 370 seats on its own and 400 for the NDA.
The Congress, which had also failed to win even a single seat in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh in 2019, is hoping for a better performance this time after roping in YS Sharmila, who is the sister of Jagan Mohan Reddy. Riding high on its twin successes in the Telangana and Karnataka Assembly polls last year, the party is expecting that they will have an impact in the other southern states as well.
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