Hyderabad: TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu told his politburo members that the interests of the nation and state as well as that of the party were involved in the seat-sharing talks with the BJP.
There is no major hitch so far as the seat sharing with the BJP Seemandhra unit is concerned. In talks held between leaders of both the parties, the AP-BJP came forward to reduce its original claim to six Lok Sabha and 22 Assembly seats.
TDP leaders have offered four Lok Sabha and 15 Assembly seats. “Since the difference in the number of seats that is being sought by the BJP and offered by the TDP is not much, nor non-negotiable, we are sure to strike a deal at five Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats,” said a key source in the BJP.
A TDP top functionary agreed, saying, “We are sure to come to power in Seemandhra, the BJP has decided to play the junior partner’s role there. When we want to come to power, we need to make some minor adjustments. We will clinch the sharing in a day or two.”
But the talks in Telangana appear to have ended on Saturday and the BJP will announce going it alone in Telangana on Monday, when its national election committee finalises the list of candidates for all 119 Assembly and 17 LS constituencies.
BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said that a final decision on seat-sharing with the TDP will be decided by the party’s Central unit. BJP state president G. Kishan Reddy will be in Delhi on Monday to submit the list of candidates for approval.
“What can we do when the BJP is demanding Kukatpally, Serilingampally and Malkajgiri Assembly seats too?” admitted a TDP leader.
It is believed that Mr Naidu has begun talks with BJP’s Arun Jaitley on the issue.
The BJP also said there would be no alliance with the TRS at this stage. “We have a problem here. The TRS will demand more seats than the TDP,” said a BJP leader.
