Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and the assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu met Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda late on Wednesday night, fuelling indications that the two parties may come together in the state.
As per sources, Naidu met Shah at the home minister’s residence and Nadda was also present at the meeting.
Naidu’s Presence to Help NDA in Andhra?
Sources further said that Naidu, who is also the former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is keen to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Many in the ruling party believes that an alliance with Naidu will help the NDA perform well in the state that is ruled by the YSR Congress.
Naidu in the NDA will help the ruling alliance boost its tally, they said.
Currently, the BJP has no Lok Sabha member from the state.
A senior BJP leader said his party is open to an alliance but it will all depend on how many seats the TDP, the main opposition party in the state, agrees to give it, especially for the Lok Sabha polls.
Naidu’s return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will be marked as the second case of a major regional leader to have done so, after Janata Dal (United) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the opposition and joined its fold last month.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently asserted in Parliament that his party will get 370 seats and the NDA will cross 400 in the polls, expected in April-May, to the 543-member House.
BJP and TDP Fought Together in 2014 Polls
Both the parties had fought the 2014 polls together when Telangana was yet to be formally separated from Andhra Pradesh. The BJP had then fought three seats and won all of them out of the 42 seats in the united state.
After Telangana’s creation, Andhra Pradesh has 25 seats and the BJP is looking forward to contest on anywhere between six to eight seats, sources said.
BJP-TDP’ Suspected Reconciliation
The TDP had walked out of the NDA in 2018 but suffered majorly in the 2019 polls when it could win only three Lok Sabha seats and lost power in the state to the YSR Congress, which has mostly supported the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on key issues for the last five years.
However, political equations have prompted the BJP to explore the possibility of reviving its ties with the TDP, which has been pursuing the matter in earnest for a long time now.
Actor Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party, which was a BJP ally, has already decided to join hands with the TDP.
(with PTI inputs)
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