TDP, BJP, JSP alliance nears completion in AP

Vijayawada: Electoral arithmetic has brought both the Telugu Desam Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party to the final phase of negotiations in New Delhi for a tripartite alliance with actor Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party, exactly six years after former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in protest against denial of Special Category Status (SCS).

Even there are strong indications that a formal announcement on seat sharing will be made public in a day or two, sources in TDP and BJP thank Pawan Kalyan for his continuous persuasion with the leadership of ruling coalition at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to support efforts for a 'YSRCP-vimukt' Andhra Pradesh.

There is buzz that the alliance might prevent division of Opposition votes amid reports that it may pave the way for exit of some of the strong aspirants for tickets mainly from the TDP. It is also said that as part of seat-sharing, TDP leadership will allot a certain number of seats for both BJP and JSP to take a final call. Before Pawan announced alliance with Naidu, when the former was in jail in connection with the Andhra Pradesh Skill Development Corporation fund misuse scam, JSP was a member of NDA.

A TDP leader told Bizz Buzz on condition of anonymity that though BJP is not a big factor in Andhra Pradesh at present and it is not in a position to win a single Assembly or Lok Sabha seat on its own - a repeat of its performance in 2019 when it went alone, if it being made an alliance partner, will serve two purposes viz. to avoid split in anti-incumbency vote and getting the backing of BJP-led NDA government, which is poised for forming the government at the Centre for a record third term.

YSRCP leadership, which is supporting the NDA in all crucial legislations and decisions, is keen on continuation of status quo though its leaders including Industries Minister Gudivada Amarnath said that even if the tripartite alliance materialises, nobody can stop Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy from retaining power due to his welfare agenda.

Incidentally, TDP was part of the BJP-led coalition in 1996 when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. In 2014, TDP and BJP contested together with the support of JSP, which did not field any candidate. At that time, TDP won 15 Lok Sabha seats with a vote share of little over 40 per cent. BJP could win two Lok Sabha seats with a vote share of 7 per cent. In the Assembly polls, the first post-bifurcation, TDP was elected to power with a tally of 102 out of 175 seats with a vote share of 44.9 per cent.

In Telangana it could win 15 Assembly seats with 14.7 per cent vote share.