TD, JS forge alliance with BJP to contest AP polls

Vijayawada: The Telugu Desam and Jana Sena forged an alliance with the BJP on Saturday to jointly contest the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh.

TD chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, camping in Delhi, called on the Union home minister Amit Shah at his residence for the second time and finalised a deal with the BJP. The Telugu Desam returns to the BJP-led NDA after exiting from it over five years ago, while the JS was already linked to the NDA and recently forged an alliance with the TD too.

The three political parties will jointly contest the 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats from AP. The TD-JS combo has already announced candidates for 94 and five Assembly seats respectively. Seat sharing will be done for the remaining seats and a change of candidates could be considered if a need arose.

The modalities on seat-sharing are to be worked out among the three parties through fresh rounds of discussion in AP.

BJP president J.P. Nadda, TD chief Naidu and JS chief Pawan Kalyan issued a joint statement in Delhi after sealing the deal. It read, “Under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP, TD and JS, as being committed for the progress of the country and for the uplift of the people of Andhra Pradesh, have decided to contest the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections together in AP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been working tirelessly for the development and progress of the nation for the past 10 years. The BJP coming together with the TD and JS will help in realising the aspirations of the people of AP.”

”The BJP and TD have a very old relationship together. TD joined the NDA in 1996 and worked together successfully during the terms of PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and PM Modi. In 2014, the TD and BJP fought the Lok Sabha and Assembly election together in AP. The Jana Sena had supported the BJP in the 2014 elections in AP.”

“The modalities of seat sharing will be deliberated within a day or two. We hope that the alliance will rise to the expectations of the people of AP.”

Nadda tweeted on X, “I wholeheartedly welcome the decision of Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan to join the NDA family. Under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP, TD and JS are committed to the progress of the country and for the uplift of Andhra Pradesh and its people.”

Naidu and Pawan Kalyan have been camping in Delhi since Thursday to hold talks with the BJP leadership. They met Amit Shah and Nadda on Thursday night. However, the efforts to meet BJP leaders again on Friday did not materialise. On Saturday morning, Naidu and Pawan Kalyan met Amit Shah and sealed the deal.

TD Rajya Sabha member K. Ravindra Kumar, said the three parties decided to work together keeping in mind the interests of AP and the country. As part of the poll alliance, some seats for both assembly and LS “would be allotted to JS and BJP.”

“We aim to drive the ruling YSRC out of power and to avoid a split of anti-incumbency votes. The seat allotment would be based on the strength of the party and the winning chance of the nominee.