TDP, BJP seal alliance deal in Andhra, saffron party settles for 6 Lok Sabha and 6 Assembly seats

The Jana Sena Party (JSP), which is already in alliance with the BJP, will seek a mandate from two Lok Sabha and 24 Assembly segments.

The TDP will field candidates in the remaining 17 Lok Sabha and 145 Assembly segments. Andhra Pradesh has 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats.

Confirming the same, the former chief minister and TDP chief said to a group of reporters in Delhi that, “Andhra Pradesh has been destroyed badly. The BJP and the TDP are a win-win situation for the country and the state.”

.@JaiTDP , @JanaSenaParty and @BJP4India are joining forces to bring Andhra Pradesh back on growth track. This is a significant moment for our state, which has suffered and lived through its darkest phase in history over the last five years. History will record this alliance as… pic.twitter.com/HsaXdAQxUg

— Lokesh Nara (@naralokesh) March 9, 2024

Read our earlier report on the BJP seeking seven Lok Sabha seats, while Naidu offered six.

TDP’s offer

The JSP was earlier offered three Lok Sabha seats. It will give one back to the TDP.

The BJP has been offered Araku, Rajahmundry, Narasapuram, Tirupati, Hindupur, and Rajampet Parliament constituencies. The JSP is set to contest in two of the three seats: Anakapalle, Kakinada, and Machilipatnam.

BJP state leaders, such as its state president Daggubati Purandeswari and former chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, are eying the Rajahmundry and Rajampet Lok Sabha seats, respectively.

Former YSRCP rebel MP K Raghu Rama Krishna is also interested in getting re-elected from Narasapuram. Though he has not joined any political party after parting ways with the YSRCP, he might join the BJP.

Clarity on the Assembly seats and the contestants is expected after Naidu and Pawan Kalyan’s return to Andhra Pradesh.

The formal alliance was announced on Saturday, 9 March. With this TDP makes a return to NDA.

Also Read: What does an alliance with TDP mean for BJP in Andhra Pradesh?

Alliance is against TDP-BJP cadre

As reported by South First earlier, the district BJP leaders are against an alliance with the TDP.

The district leaders justified that they have been working for the party for years but had to remain in the shadow of Andhra Pradesh’s bipolar political landscape, where the two regional parties — the YSRCP and TDP — held sway. They now want to be seen and heard in the state’s mainstream politics.

The leaders fear that the alliance with the TDP would obliterate their opportunity to emerge from the shadows.

Earlier, a meeting convened by BJP’s national leaders witnessed the party’s district office-bearers vehemently opposing the alliance with the TDP.

However, they changed their mind — albeit reluctantly — after senior leaders, including Kiran Kumar Reddy and Rajya Sabha member CM Ramesh, strongly favoured a tie-up with the TDP and the JSP.

A section of TDP leaders, too, against the alliance. They argued that Naidu is cutting the BJP too much slack in his eagerness to rejoin the NDA. This, they fear, could prove detrimental to the TDP, a formidable political force in the state, while being a windfall for the BJP, which currently lacks a substantial presence.

The BJP’s performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with less than one percent — 0.98 percent to be exact — of the total votes polled, raises questions about its electoral strength in the region. In Assembly elections, it was much worse, it polled only 0.84 percent.

TDP leaders expressed dismay over conceding significant ground to JSP and the BJP, despite their lacklustre past performance.

Also Read: Why is TDP keen on aligning with BJP despite the heavy price it comes with?